Sociology I / Contemporary Migration
Practice question · Sort into groups

Push–pull models and network models disagree about why flows begin and why they persist. Sort each explanation by the model it belongs to.

Groups: Push–pull models · Networks and cumulative causation

Hints
  1. One column makes predictions about when migration stops and the other about why it does not.
  2. Ask which model can explain a village that sends people to one particular city.
Show the answer

Push–pull models: Flows are predicted to track wage differentials between countries, Migration should stop when the original differential closes

Networks and cumulative causation: Each departure lowers the cost and risk of the next from the same place, Corridors persist after the conditions that opened them have changed

Why

The second column is the better fit for the observed geography of migration, which is village-to-neighbourhood rather than country-to-country. Push–pull predicts a diffuse response to aggregate differentials; what the data show is dense, specific corridors that outlive their causes, which is exactly what accumulated social capital would produce.

Read the lesson: Contemporary Migration →

Practise Contemporary Migration

The app has 6 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Sociology I is free to start.

More questions on Contemporary Migration