The concept of migration is that has gained importance with global integration but has been ongoing since the existence of humanity. Migration movements can be national, internal migration, or international migration, external migration. The concept of migration can be discussed from many different perspectives such as economic, political, and cultural. Migration is caused by the geography in which individuals live, the social structures they internalize, the existing economic detachment from opportunities, values, cultures, and other elements of social life or being cut off and settling in a different geography and starting to live in a new environment. (Toros, 2008, p. 9). At the same time, migration occurs at different levels such as individual, household, and social.
The situation mentioned with the concept of migration is actually a process. This process includes the consequences of migration that causes migration. According to different perspectives, the reasons for migration vary. At this point, two important paradigms draw attention. The first is the functionalist perspective and the other is the historical-structural perspective. The functionalist perspective includes push-pull models and neoclassical theory. On the other hand, within the historical-structural perspective, it has been included in multiple theories such as globalization theory, segmented labor market theory, new economic and networking. At this point, the neoclassical theory, which is included in functionalism, which exists as a response to each other, and the new economic model that exists in historical structuralism.
According to the functionalist perspective, migration is an action that must be taken for the development of countries. That is seen as part of development. On the other hand, this perspective, which focuses more on voluntary migration while examining the issue of migration, argues that positive and negative aspects shape migration within the origin country and the destination country. On the other hand, according to the historical-structural point of view, migration emerges because of the unequal living conditions between developed and underdeveloped countries as a result of the increase in population with rising capitalism. So, they actually talk about the type of migration that relies heavily on labor recruitment. They argue that developing countries use their human resources and at the same time lead to a situation in which rich-poor inequality within countries rises. According to historical-structural thinkers, individuals are forced to migrate by structural forces. What is meant by structural forces is debts and mechanization. And also, according to the neo-classical theory, which is included in the functionalist perspective, modernization has triggered migration. There has been an economic incentive for migration due to the directing of the labor in the rural areas to the city and the increasing industrial opportunities. Migration shows a tendency towards balance in society. Their most basic defence is that low-paid workers migrate to regions where the workforce is less in return for high wages. Neoclassical thinkers said that another factor that causes migration is wage differences between countries. Therefore, international migration is triggered by the labor market. They argue that with open borders and freedom of immigration, income disparities will decrease. According to the neoclassicals, we can examine migration in two different dimensions. These are micro and macro size. Migrants in the micro dimension aim to maximize their income and migrate to the direction of the most productive and highest wage earners with benefit cost calculation in an individual context. They argue that immigration will continue until income disparities between sending and receiving countries are reduced and wage conditions are equalized. On the macro perspective, they argue that the tendency to migrate increases at the point where the wages they aim to earn are higher than the wages they will spend during migration. Individuals aim to migrate according to individual cost-benefit calculations. Although this perspective understands the nature of migration, in order to maximize income or benefit, immigrants need to be knowledgeable about wages and employment in the country they migrate to, and markets should be accessible. Therefore, the explanation of migration in conditions of poverty is among the points criticized in this theory. On the other hand, people migrate by getting support from factors such as age, gender, level of knowledge, but this theory does not show people’s sensitivity to external factors. There are factors such as money, connections, and access to information on migration. Therefore, migration is not a random process. Individual preferences and cultures of people are also effective on their desire to migrate. On the other hand, in this theory, if governments follow attractive policies in terms of recruitment policies, they will prevent the driving force of migration.
The new economic migration theory, which is among the defence of the historical-structuralists, emerged as a response to the neoclassical thinkers. According to the new economic advocates, immigration is not a situation based on individual income maximization. The decision to migrate is taken by families. At this point, the aim may be to diversify the sources of income within the family. For example, a family living in a village may direct one or more of the young members of the household to emigrate by decision. In this way, the income of the family will not only be limited to the village, but also from different sources. At the same time, there may be incentives to migrate to provide resources or create investments in the family’s economic activities. In addition, there may be incentives to migrate to gain higher socio-economic status. In social structuring, that is, in uncertain and economically different conditions, human livelihood and activities are not considered individually, but in a social and environmental context. Therefore, the only reason for migration is not the existence of income differences. Reasons such as social security, income inequalities, and the desire to be employed in a secure way are among the determining factors in migration. At this point, failure to develop government policies that control income distribution will also cause migration. According to the new economic perspective, not only the labor market but also the effect of markets such as insurance and capital on migration is very high in economic insecurity and market failures. However, according to this theory, government policies are thought to be shaped according to immigration entry and exit rates. therefore, as a result of the country of origin developing policies to reduce and even eliminate income inequalities, migration will be able to be stopped.
In short, when we compare the two theories, we see that the proponents of the neoclassical theory argue that migration occurs individually, due to income differences and because of cost-benefit analysis. On the other hand, according to the new economic perspective, migration does not occur individually. Migration is a decision taken at the family and community level. There are multiple markets that affect the migration decision. These two theories emerged as contradictory to each other. While neo-classicals argue that migration takes place based on individual and utility maximization, according to the new economic perspective, migration occurs not for individual income growth, but with the encouraging power of family and social ties. On the other hand, while neoclassicals argue that migration occurs due to income differences, and that migration will end when income differences are equalized, according to the new economic perspective, they argue that migration is made for income diversity rather than income differences. At the same time, we should point out that according to the neoclassical theory, the labor market provides international migration. However, according to the new economic theory, there is not only the labor market, but also the effect of more than one market such as insurance and capital.
When we evaluate all these, people migrated for different reasons in different periods. Wars, social pressures, education, and economic developments are among the main reasons for migration. Therefore, there have been different approaches to immigration in different periods. There are two basic paradigms in the formation of migration theories. The first paradigm is functionalist and contains two different theories. These are the push-pull model and the neoclassical theory. The second is the historical-structuralist perspective, which includes globalization, migration systems theory, new economic and household perspectives. Among these theories, there is the new economic theory, which emerged as a response to the neoclassicals that looked at migration in terms of individual benefit. The new economic theory emerges as the theory that argues that migration, which is among the criticized features of the neoclassical theory, does not occur within the framework of the labor market, and that markets such as capital and insurance are also in question. So much so that I think migration is a situation triggered in the family and social context rather than individualism.
