Push and pull factors (race relations)
Push and pull factors in race relations refer to the motivations behind migration that arise from unfavorable conditions in one's home country (push factors) and the appealing opportunities available in another location (pull factors). Historically, push factors have included persecution—whether religious, political, or economic—that drives individuals or groups to seek refuge elsewhere. For example, the mass exodus of Jews fleeing Czarist Russia and later Nazi Germany illustrates how severe oppression can compel migration. Economic hardships, such as the Irish Potato Famine, have also served as significant push motivators, prompting waves of migration toward regions with better opportunities.
Conversely, pull factors often encompass the promise of better job prospects, living conditions, and community support. North America, particularly the United States, has attracted migrants for over a century due to its perceived economic opportunities, from abundant land to industrial jobs. Additionally, the desire for family reunification has been a strong pull factor, with many immigrants seeking to join relatives already established in their new communities. In contemporary discussions, climate change has emerged as a new dimension, pushing individuals from vulnerable areas and influencing migration patterns. Understanding these factors is crucial for examining the dynamics of migration and race relations in a global context.
Push and pull factors (race relations)
Because migration is costly and stressful, people migrate only when there is a strong incentive to do so. This may occur because conditions where they live have become unusually bad, and they feel a “push” to leave. On the other hand, conditions may appear unusually good somewhere else, and they feel a “pull” toward that location. Often, a combination of “push” and “pull” factors motivates migration, but the “push” factor is usually necessary for migration to be seriously considered.
Traditionally, religious persecution and political persecution have been powerful push factors. The New England Puritans and the Pennsylvania Quakers fled religious persecution by coming to North America. Persecution of Jews in Czarist Russia in the nineteenth century also motivated thousands to flee farther west. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin escalated such persecutions in the 1930s and 1940s, culminating in the torture and deaths of millions of Jews during the Holocaust and Soviet pogroms. In the 1990s, refugees fled from tyrannical regimes in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. US immigration policy has given favored status to people who can show they have been victims of such persecution.
The push may also arise from unfavorable economic circumstances. Potato famines in the 1840s led to a mass exodus from Ireland and the Scandinavian countries, bringing many migrants to North America. Within the United States, the mechanization of cotton cultivation in the 1940s and 1950s greatly reduced the need for field hands in the South, causing thousands of African American families to move to the industrial North. The latter was a gradual process whereby the improvement in agricultural productivity reduced the number of people needed to produce food and fiber, leading to migrations from farms to towns and cities.
The strongest pull factors have been economic. People often move to locations where they expect to find good jobs and comfortable incomes. North America has exerted this kind of pull on the rest of the world since the mid-nineteenth century. Initially, the great attraction was the vast abundance of fertile and relatively cheap land. By 1900, however, American manufacturing industries were also eager to employ relatively cheap and docile immigrant labor. Railroads, land speculators, and factory owners sent recruiters to Europe to encourage immigrants. In the 1920s, about one million African Americans moved to Northern cities during the Great Migration to pursue better jobs, salaries, and living conditions than they could find in the South.
The United States has continued to exert this kind of pull, partly because its labor market is relatively free from apprenticeship regulations and monopolistic labor union restrictions on who can be hired. The clearest evidence is the flood of migrants coming northward from Mexico, who, in addition, have been “pushed” by poor economic conditions and a lack of jobs in their mother country. A strong pull in the 1990s arose as American firms actively recruited people with computer skills, mostly from Asia. Immigration preferences are given to people with scarce job skills.
Finally, an important pull results from the desire to be reunited with family members. In the early 1990s, about half of all legal immigration into the United States involved spouses, children, or parents of US citizens.
In the twenty-first century, climate change entered push and pull discussions. As extreme weather, droughts, water insecurity, and rising sea levels alter Earth’s climate zones, people may be increasingly pushed away from vulnerable regions.
Bibliography
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