2. London School of Economics and Political Science The Migration Studies Unit Inaugural Lecture Migration and Social Transformation Professor Stephen Castles University of Oxford Chair: Professor David Held London School of Economics and Political Science
It is a great honour to be invited to give this Inaugural Lecture for the Migration Studies Unit at LSE:
An occasion for celebration, because it will help focus the great analytical capacities of LSE on a key aspect of contemporary society.
However, it is also an occasion for caution because the study of international migration is full of pitfalls.
Growth of migration studies: Britain, Europe, globally. .There are degree courses, specialised journals, conferences and a European network of excellence.
Hundreds of doctoral candidates are working on international migration, and many of them see their future in one of the ever more numerous special research units, centres or institutes.
But why this is growth happening?
Is it because social scientists have recognised that mobility of people is one of the key dynamics of global change?
Or is it because migration regulation, immigrant integration and the migration-development nexus have become highly politicised issues?
I would like to think the former, but I fear it is much more the latter.
Thus one of my main themes today is the ambivalence of the growth of migration research.

3. Ambivalent consequences for migration studies
Positive
Growing need for data collection, research, analysis
Socially-relevant: addresses needs of migrants, affected communities, civil society, governments.
Migration studies is: ‘policy-relevant’, ‘engaged with users’, ‘in the national interest’
Negative
Research is policy-driven
Focus on short-term policy concerns of governments and international agencies
Funders determine research questions, methods, even findings
Politicisation generates need for data-collection, analysis and research.
Clearly this is a good thing for all of us who study migration: it means that we are being listened to (even if our conclusions are often distorted or ignored). We are ‘policy-relevant’, ‘engaged with users’, even ‘working in the national interest’.
International migration research can and should be socially-relevant – that is it should address the concerns of migrants, communities affected by migration in sending, transit and receiving countries, civil society and government. That means that it is – in official parlance – also policy-relevant.
However – and here is the ambivalence –there is a danger that ‘policy-relevant’ will turn into ‘policy-driven’. That happens when research questions, methods and even findings are shaped by needs of policy-makers.
The result it is likely not only to be bad social science, but also misguided policy.
To avoid this, migration studies needs to be embedded into research on the major processes of social transformation taking place in the context of increased global integration. Migration studies must reject the role of being an administrative tool for policy-makers.
The importance of embedding migration research into analysis of social transformation is my second main theme.

4. Contents Migration policy failure; role of migration studies
Politicisation of migration
‘Conventional wisdoms’ about migration today
New directions in migration theory
Social transformation as an analytical framework
Consequences for:
Theory
methods
organisation of research
Revisiting some ‘conventional wisdoms’
In this paper I will:
Give some examples of unsuccessful migration policies in the past and link these to the migration research of the time;
Mention some of emerging ‘conventional wisdoms’ about migration today;
Discuss the politicisation of migration and migration studies
Discuss some important recent trends in migration theory, that are overcoming old divisions and providing new ways of thinking about migration;
Argue that the use of social transformation theory as a an overarching framework can help link migration studies to innovative theories of global change
Examine the consequences of a social transformation approach for the theory, methods and organisation of migration studies.
Revisit some of the ‘conventional wisdoms’ outlined previously.

5. Migration policy failure
US attempts to prevent irregular migration from Mexico
IRCA 1986
Operation Gatekeeper 1994
 12m irregular residents
Australia’s postwar migration program,
 now one of the world’s most diverse countries
Germany’s guestworker program
 family reunion, settlement, new ethnic minorities
Temporary migration policies in Asia
 already leading to longer stay and greater diversity
In the past, migration policies have often failed to reach their objectives.
US policies for preventing irregular migration from Mexico are a well-known case.
The Immigration and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 was designed to legalise existing migrant workers and prevent future irregular entries. But entries grew rapidly.
Clinton Administration’s ‘Operation Gatekeeper’, 1994: designed to stop irregular immigration by building fences along the US-Mexico border:
The death rate on the border soared, while migrant smugglers were able to increase their fees sharply, and temporary migrants decided to stay on permanently.
President Bush supported legislation for a legal guestworker system and ‘earned legalisation’ of existing workers. Congress decided instead to spend billions on extending the border fences and upgrading surveillance equipment.
There are many other examples. Here are a few :
·          Australia’s postwar immigration programme: designed to keep the country white and British, and yet led to one of the world’s most diverse societies.
·          Germany’s ‘guestworker’ recruitment from : aimed to provide temporary labour, but led to family reunion, permanent settlement and new ethnic minorities.
·          Temporary labour migration policies in Asian countries like Japan, Korea and Malaysia. These policies were designed to keep labour cheap and flexible and to prevent settlement. But trends to longer stay and family reunion soon became evident. Governments are now being forced to look at issues of social integration, education and welfare – in the same way as European governments in the 1980s.

6. Social science and migration
‘Methodological nationalism’:
Nation-state as frame: national models:
Control and integration of ‘dangerous’ classes
Assimilation:
‘Forgetting difference vital to national identity (Renan)
‘Rationality’ = giving up ‘pre-industrial’ culture (Weber)
‘Re-socialisation’ into ‘modern norms’ (Park)
Neo-classical economic theory:
focus on individual income maximisation
Disciplinary fragmentation
Why have official policies been based on a fundamental misunderstanding of migratory processes? Did policy makers ignore the advice of migration researchers?
Unfortunately not! Many social scientists have always been willing to accept the assumptions upon which official migration objectives have been premised.
Reasons:
‘Methodological nationalism’ (Wimmer and Glick Schiller 2003): border crossing seen as exceptional and destabilising.
Historical development of social sciences in the 19th and early 20th centuries: Part of the project of nation-state formation. Social relations constituted within national industrial societies. National distinctiveness with regard to migration and incorporation.
Construction of national identity meant forgetting the history of conquest and incorporation upon which European nation-states were based (Renan 1992).
Max Weber’s assumption of the decline of ‘affective relationships’ and the rise of ‘rationality’ in modern industrial societies was shared by generations of social scientists, including Marxists.
Concern with control and integration of potentially deviant groups (working classes and colonised peoples) and with social order. ‘Re-socialisation’ to culture and norms of modern society – Chicago School, Robert E. park.
Similarly, the migration theorists of the 1960s and 1970s largely failed to predict the settlement of former guestworkers, the emergence of multi-ethnic communities, and the continued role of minority languages, religions and customs in industrial societies.
Main guide to policy formation: New version of rationality: methodological individualism of neo-classical theory, which interprets migrant motivations in terms of cost-benefit calculations and individual income maximisation.

7. The politicisation of migration research
International migration is at the crux of the contradiction between:
The national principle of sovereignty: right of states to control cross-border flows
Transnational principle of global mobility:
Flows of capital and commodities crucial to the ‘new economy’
Flows of people and cultures: seen as a threat to the nation-state
Crossing a national border may seem a simple enough act for an individual – a matter of course in a globalising world.
But it is actually part of one of the great dramas of our time: the contradiction between the national principle upon which the sovereignty of states is founded, and the transnational principle of global mobility.
States try to control flows of people – it is a vestige of sovereignty at a time when liberalised markets erode the power of states to regulate corporations, manage labour markets and maintain welfare states.
Employers, by contrast, want to draw freely on a global labour force. The states versus markets dilemma is escapable.
Where the policy-makers get it wrong, the result is irregular migration: 12 million irregular migrants in the USA, 3-7 million in Europe, over a million in Malaysia.
Irregularity suits some employers well, but means exploitation of workers, undermining of labour standards for competing local workers, and erosion of the rule of law.
States, however, are more concerned about supposed security threats through uncontrolled migration, economic inefficiency through survival of marginal firms, and the popular backlash against immigration.

8. This chart of trade flows of dairy products in 2003 epitomises the celebratory images of globalisation. [source: Google images].
Positive stereotype. of free trade flows, that lead to consumer choice and lower prices for all.
Erosion of nation-state powers (hyperglobalisers like Konichi Ohmae).
A realisation of David Ricardo’s principle of comparative advantage’?
Similar images could be presented for trade in other products, capital flows, or even flows of governance or military cooperation.
But the reality is different when you look at flows of people.

9. Frontier of the Spanish enclave of Melilla with Morocco in 2006, the day after many African migrants tried to scale the fence – six were killed.
Frontier of Melilla (Spanish Enclave in Morocco). About April The army guards the wall, after an attempt at mass crossing by Africans desperate to get into the European Union.

10. But Europe relies more on the sea than on Walls.
This map – taken from Le Monde Diplomatique – shows how many immigrants die trying to enter Europe. The largest number are those who drown trying to cross from Morocco to Spain – well over 3000 (from ). But many others died from drowning, suffocation, hypothermia (hanging outside trains) and other causes.
Improved control has recently made African migrants try the much longer sea-crossing from Mali or Senegal to the Canary Islands.

11. The walls you can’t see Biometrics Restrictive asylum policies
Visa requirements
Carrier sanctions: turning airline staff into immigration officials
‘Safe third countries’
Surveillance of minorities: ‘the enemy within’
But walls and sea-barriers are not typical image of Europe.
And most illegal workers migrate legally.
It is the walls you can’t see that are much more important.

12. Anyway, today’s walls are not designed to keep everybody out.
This picture shows legal Mexican migrants waiting for immigration clearance at US border.
The USA systematically uses undocumented workers to meet low-skilled labour needs. But there are small legal programmes for labour for some jobs – perhaps mainly a legitimation strategy for draconian controls.
MORE IMPORTANT: All developed countries seek to attract highly-skilled migrants and entrepreneurs.
Virtual free movement for those with the right attributes and human capital.
DIFFERENTIATION as a key concept in migration policy.

13. Differentiation
Privileged entry and status for highly-skilled and entrepreneurs
Containment of refugees and exclusion of asylum seekers
‘Side-doors’ for less-skilled:
New guestworkers
Working holidaymakers etc.
Undocumented entry and employment: preferred by many employers and governments
GO THROUGH SLIDE.
We can find differentiation in the immigration policies of the USA, Australia, the European Union, but also at the policies of the new labour-importers like Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai or Libya.
The key trend in policy has been towards tighter immigration control, attracting the human capital resources of poorer countries, rejection of family reunion and permanent settlement (especially for the lower-skilled).
Many countries systematically use undocumented migration, because workers without rights meet employer needs better, and because it allows governments to appease anti-immigration movements (e.g. new wall in USA).
I will examine some of the factors behind such approaches here – especially historical and political economy factors.

14. New policy directions National: European Union Global:
Special ministries, task forces, agencies
Labour market policies
Laws and institutions for iIntegration, social cohesion
European Union
Towards common policies on migration and asylum
Exporting border control – e.g. Rabat 2006
Global:
GCIM – Global Commission on International Migration
HLD – Highly Level Dialogue on Mig. and Dev. 2006
GFMD – Global Forum on Migration and Dev. 2007
Have policy-makers learnt from the mistakes of the past?
Have advances in migration theory and the growth of migration studies provided the conceptual tools needed to avoid unrealistic and counter-productive approaches?
These are important issues for all of.
International migration has become highly politicised – an issue of daily debate in the media and parliaments.
With the growth of international migration and its increased political saliency has come an enormous expansion of migration policy-making capacity. Governments have set up special policy units and agencies, inter-ministerial taskforces and even special ministries.
International cooperation in the EU and other regional bodies has grown exponentially.
Migration is becoming a key theme in debates on global governance. Since 2003 there has been a Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM), a High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development (HLD) at the United Nations and a Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). The latter was hosted for the first time by the Belgian Government in July this year, and the second Forum will be held in Manila next year

15. Some new conventional wisdoms
South-North migration is a problem to be fixed by dealing with ‘root causes’ (poverty, violence)
Migration can drive development
through remittances, technology transfer, diaspora actions and return migration
Circular migration is a ‘win-win-win’ situation
Receiving countries get workers but no new settlers
Migrants gain economically
Origin countries gain through development support
Compulsory integration leads to social cohesion and eliminates diversity and transnationalism
Are the key assumptions on which migration policies are based more realistic than in the past.
Such assumptions include the following
Migration from poor to rich countries is a problem – something negative that can be prevented in the long run by addressing ‘root causes’ (especially poverty, violence and bad governance).
Migration can drive the development of poorer countries, because money remittances provide a source of investment, social remittances involve transfer of the right attitudes and know-how, and diasporas can be encouraged to work actively for the development of their homelands.
Circular migration policies can be made to work, despite the failure of similar ‘guestworker’ policies in the past, and will provide a win-win-win situation for receiving countries, migrants and origin countries.
Multiculturalism is detrimental to integration. It is being replaced by ‘integration contracts’ and citizenship tests – ways of forcing migrants to abandon their cultures and religions and assimilating.
I believe that all these ideas are either mistaken or problematic, because they largely ignore the forces that are currently driving international migration. It is important to understand these forces, and how migration research can help understand them.
I will return to the conventional wisdoms later.

16. Migration theory 1950-90s: dual divides
Explaining mobility
Neo-classical theory:
Individual income motive
Human capital
Equilibrium hypothesis
Historical-institutional theory
Colonialism /Dependency
World systems
Labour for capital
Perpetuating inequality
Incorporation in society
Exclusionary identities
Guestworker systems
Temporary adaptation
Inclusionary assimilation
Individual citizenship
Adopting dominant culture
Multiculturalism
Cultural recognition
Equality and anti-racism
I want to look quickly at some of the key theories in our field.
Until recently migration studies was marked by ‘dual divides’:
An almost complete separation between those who examined why and how migration took place, and those who studied the place of migrants in receiving societies and processes of incorporation into societies.
The former area was closely linked to development studies, and mainly involved economists, political economists and geographers. The latter involved sociologists, anthropologists, cultural studies, political scientists, educationalists and legal scholars.
2. Within each area, deep theoretical divides based on disciplines, paradigms and political positions.
These are complex issues, that cannot be dealt with properly here. But, very briefly, here are some of the key differences..
GO THROUGH SLIDE

17. Migration theory 1970s – 2000s New approaches
Explaining mobility
Transitional theories
Zelinsky: mobility transition
Martin: migration hump
Skeldon: ‘development tiers’
Migration and development
Remittances
Social remittances
Brain circulation
Diasporas
Incorporation in society
Integration /neo-assimilation
Diversity erodes social capital
‘Parallel lives’ and security
Integration,social cohesion
‘Core values’, citizenship
Diversity / multiculturalism
Multiple identities
Cosmopolitan cities
Transnationalism
Critique of some of the conflicting positions has led to some important changes – although their character is very difference for the two key areas. Also it must be noted that the social scientific shifts have been inter-linked with policy shifts – knowledge is never neutral in this area.
On the mobility side, this discussion is based on a recent and not published paper by my colleague Hein de Haas.
Transitional theories set out to overcome separation between migration theory and broader social science, by linking mobility to produces of development and economic integration.
[EXPLAIN theories briefly].
New discourses on migration and development – I will come to these in more detail later.
Newer approaches to incorporation:linked to recent political and media criticism of supposed threats to national identity and security from migrations who refuse to get integrated and who carry on ‘parallel lives’ – especially targeted at Muslim minorities.
Revamping of assimilationist theories to fit contemporary northern societies. New emphasis on integration and ways of enforcing it, ‘core values’ etc.
Against this: rethinking multicultural in context of much greater diversity, generational changes and transnationalism.

18. Theoretical synthesis: Studying the migratory process as a whole
Migration as part of the linkages between societies
New economics of labour migration (NELM)
Dual/segmented labour market theory
Migration networks
Migration as a social process
Transnational theory
Structural dependency on migration (of both origin and receiving countries)
The key ideas of some of new migration theories come from different disciplines, but they seem highly compatible with each other.
They are moving towards a more holistic understanding of the migratory process that makes it possible to overcome the old mobility/incorporation divide.
DISCUSS SLIDE.
Key approaches that are now widely accepted by migration researchers should be seen as part of the tendency within the social sciences to recognise the constant interaction between structure and agency in social relations.
As Hein de Haas argues, they fit in with the trend towards more pluralist and interactive approaches in the social sciences, based for instance on Gidden’s notion of structuration.

19. Migration theory and social theory
Overcoming split between:
Development studies in origin countries
Incorporation studies in receiving countries
Overcoming the structure-agency dichotomy
Political economy of global change
Ethnography and sociology of transnational groups
Combining quantitative and qualitative research
Migration both result and cause of social change
Embedding migration research in study of globalisation and social transformation
These new migration approaches give us the opportunity to develop approaches to migration studies that overcome many of the old divides.
GO THROUGH SLIDE.
This could help overcome the marginal position of migration studies within the social sciences – which, as I have argued, is both a result of the way it has been dominated by national assumptions and driven by policy considerations in the past, and a cause of this continued marginalisation/
The key to overcoming this marginalisation is to understand migration research as a central aspect of the study of global change.
Since cross-border mobility is at the core of globalisation it should be an important part of the theorisation of contemporary societies.
A very valuable concept to guide our analysis should be Social Transformation.

20. Globalisation as social transformation
Social transformation: fundamental change in social structure and relationships
Result of ‘step changes’ in dominant economic or political relationships
Global reconfiguration of economies and politics transforms all societies and relations between them
Central tasks for social science:
analysing processes of social transformation
examining how global changes are mediated by local cultures and histories
The concept of social transformation is widely used in the social sciences, but largely in a descriptive way. I think it could be a key analytical concept for examining the way global changes affect nation-states and local communities and the relationships between them.
The idea of transformation implies a fundamental change in the way society is organised that goes beyond the continual processes of social change that are always at work – I follow Karl Polanyi here.
This arises when there are major shifts in the dominant economic or political relationships. At present we have to deal with both economic and political step-changes. E..g Joe Stiglitz (Former VP of WB): Globalisation and its Discontents: how structural adjustment causes social transformation
However, it important to realise that global changes are experienced by individuals and communities first at the local level, then possibly at higher spatial levels: national, regional, global.
The way global forces affect people is conditioned by local historical and cultural patterns – leading to different impacts and forms of resistance in various places.
Social research on transformation needs to analyse multiple spatial levels and mediation between them.

21. Social transformation drives South-North Migration
Changes in rural work and life: more inequality
Rural-urban migration:
Unemployment
Poverty
Undemocratic states
Conflict and violence
Lack of human rights
Structural adjustment erodes public services
 EMIGRATION
North
Economic restructuring
Decline of old industries
Unemployment
Deskilling
Neo-liberal model
Weakens communities
erodes welfare states
Fertility decline; ageing
New demands for labour:
High-skilled and low-skilled
IMMIGRATION
Immigrants as symbol of globalisation
Focussing on multi-level cross-border forces of social transformation and their consequences would mean re-thinking many aspects of social science theory and research. Let me concentrate here on the analysis of human mobility, and in particular on international migration between the poorer countries of the South and the rich post-industrial countries of the North.
It is important to realise that internal migration is much larger overall, especially within the demographic giants like China and India. It is also important to stress that the world cannot be simply divided into North and South: transition countries like Gulf Oil States, Asian tigers.
All the same it is useful to analyse the way globalisation leads to social transformation in both South and North, and to show how this leads to migration.
GO TO SLIDE.

22. Globalisation transforms conditions for migration
Technology:
Cheaper transport  repeated/cyclical mobility
Electronic communication  migrant links with home
Culture
Global media: images of western life-styles
Cultural capital facilitates mobility
Migrant networks
Organising migration flows and job-finding
Transnational communities
From once-in-a-lifetime migration to
 mobility as a life strategy
Increased mobility of people is not coincidental in the era of globalisation – it is an essential part of the technological and cultural changes that make up globalisation.
GO TO SLIDE.

23. Studying social transformation: theory
Focus on global connectivity
How international economic, political or military factors change communities and societies everywhere
Study of transnational processes
Multi-level units of analysis
Local, national, regional global
Mediation between the levels as key theme
Historically and culturally sited investigation
Relating structure and action
Critical analysis of social transformation is not an abstract postulate, but something that many colleagues have trying to create through their research, writing, teaching and networking.
We need to work through the consequences for theory, methodology, and the organisation of the research enterprise. No time to discuss this in detail. In brief:
Need for theory that:
focuses on global connectivity: How economic, political or military events in one place change communities and societies elsewhere. This includes role of superpowers and international organisations.
Examines transnational or cross-border processes, and their social effects. Including the partial shift of power from hierarchical to network configurations, and the tensions between these.
links spatial levels (local, regional, national global), with mediation between the levels as key theme
is historically and cultural sited
Relates structure and action

24. Methodological principles
Interdisciplinarity
Quantitative research to understand macro-social change
Historical understanding of sending, transit and receiving societies
Comparative studies
Holistic approach: embeddedness of migration in social transformation processes
Studying the agency of migrants and communities requires
Participatory research to include the perspectives of diverse actors
Qualitative research to understand migration processes and their social meanings
Migration studies based on analysis of social transformation would require new methodologies.
Interdisciplinarity. Migration researcher should work in interdisciplinary teams in larger projects, and make use of the research findings of other disciplines in smaller ones.
Quantitative research (with economists, political scientists and demographers) to understand macro-social change
Study of history and cultures of sending, transit and receiving societies is vital in understanding any specific migration situation.
Comparative studies of experiences in different societies can increase awareness of general trends and alternative approaches.
Migration researchers need to take an holistic approach, linking specific research to broader aspects of transformation and its embeddedness in social relations.
I n this era of globalisation it is essential to examine transnational dimensions of social transformation as a key factor in migration. However, social transformation is always an interaction between global and local factors,. Thus multi-level analysis is essential.
It is vital to investigate the human agency of the migrants and of sending and receiving communities, and the way this agency interacts with macro-social organisations and institutions.
Participatory research to include the perspectives of various actors
Qualitative research to understand processes and their social meanings

25. Organisation of research
Building transnational research networks
Overcoming nationalist and colonialist past by working with colleagues in sending and transit countries
Overcoming linguistic / cultural barriers
Key concepts have culturally specific meanings
Engaged and collaborative research
Working with communities
civil society organisations
Policy-makers and practitioners
The network is becoming the key organising principle of global relationships. It should also be the basic principle for organising migraton research. International networks of researchers could help overcome the nationalist and colonialist legacy of the social sciences.
Researchers can apply their understanding of local social structures and cultural practices, while western values and methods cease to be the yardstick, instead becoming objects for study and critique.
Research is not a neutral activity: researchers can make conscious choices about goals. Working with with civil society organisations of (such as community groups or migrant associations) could be a counterweight to the power of policy makers and funding bodies.
International cooperation has grown in recent years, but key concepts may have quite different meaning in different countries. Overcoming these is part of the research task.
Despite all the difficulties, it seems to me that these are some of the approaches that could take us forward. Not only will they lead to better empirical research and theoretical frameworks. They also will help to make our work as sociologists more relevant to societies that are looking for understanding and solutions in this period of rapid change.
[END HERE? OR FINISH with next slide – or a few based on this].

26. Conventional wisdoms revisited - 1
South-North migration is a problem to be fixed by dealing with the ‘root causes’
Helps support global governance strategies that impose western values and free markets
Reducing poverty and conflict will lead to more – not less - migration
Migration can drive development
A new version of modernisation theory’s ‘trickle-down’ principle: Let the poor pay for development
Migration alone does not lead to development
Migration can be a part of sustainable development
To conclude, I will return to some of the new ‘conventional wisdoms’ I mentioned earlier.
Does the analytical framework of social transformation help us in examining these ideas?
GO THROUGH SLIDE

27. Conventional wisdoms revisited - 2
Circular migration is a ‘win-win-win’ situation
Some (temporary) migrants will become settlers
Migrants do not benefit if they are denied equal rights
Sending countries only benefit if migration is part of an integrated development strategy
Compulsory integration leads to social cohesion
Globalisation leads to greater cultural diversity (with or without migration)
Strategies to enforce integration and cohesion are likely to lead to racism and conflict
Transnationalism is a consequence of globalisation and is sure to increase in future
Circular migration is a ‘win-win-win’ situation
Receiving countries get workers but no new settlers
Migrants gain economically
Origin countries gain through support for development
Compulsory integration leads to social cohesion and eliminates diversity and transnationalism
GO THOUGH SLIDE.

28. Conclusion
Recent advances in migration theory offer opportunities for bridging old divisions and overcoming the marginalisation of migration studies
There is little evidence that decision-makers pay much heed to such changes. They still are able to chose the migration research that fits in with their political needs.
So my conclusion is rather mixed:
New migration theories do offer good opportunities for overcoming some of the divisions that have hampered the development of migration studies and kept it isolated from mainstream theory in the past.
But there is little evidence at present that political decision-makers are paying much heed to such changes – they still are able to chose the migration research that fits in with their political and administrative needs. This will no doubt lead to future problems, but the time perspective of politics is as short as the electoral cycle.

29. The end Sooner or later, every wall will fall