Theoretical Considerations for Studying Socio-Psychological Factors in Migration

Although the existing literature in social sciences provides considerable factual information about migration which has been gathered through refined techniques and research tools, it is often claimed that the information on migration is still mostly in unstructured state because of the lack of a general theory on the migration phenomena. Social scientists, like Hauser [6, pp.70-85], Lee [8, pp.47-57], Vance [15, pp.88-94] and Wilber [16, pp.52-61J have |expressed similar views and emphasized the need for the development of a general theory in order to integrate the existing diverse findings regarding the migration process, and also to provide guidelines for future research on the subject. Beijer [I, pp.12-21] is among the few who maintain that migration phenomena cannot be explained and understood without understanding the economic, social, and demographic forces. He strongly stresses that migration studies formulating theoretical statements must take these forces into consideration. Heberle [7, pp.65-70] and Peterson [10, pp.256-266] are among others who also realized this need and set up typologies of migration based on migratory selective factors such as age, sex, occupation and family status. The main purpose of these typologies was to offer, by an ordering of conceptual types, a basis for the possible development of theory. In spite of the fact that these scholars felt the shared concern and came forward to set up typologies of migration, not much attention has been given to typologies as conceptual tools. Attempts at model building by sociologists such as Folger [5, pp.155-164] and Taft [12, pp.141-156] also indicate a similar concern for theoretical guidelines for the study of migration.