Kinship and Economic-Rational Migration: a Comparison of Micro- and Macro-level Analyses

Social theorists have thought of economic-rational migration as a requisite of modern society which leads to the dispersion of kin and weakening of kin ties. Census data on State Economic Areas and survey data on migration from a small community are used to examine economic and kinship influences on migration at the micro- and macro-levels. The macro-level data show a “rational” pattern of migrant dispersion. However, the micro-level data show an extensive tendency, especially among working-class migrants, to follow the paths of siblings and other kin predominantly because of the information they supply on working and living conditions. Thus, at the micro-level, migration is a blend of rational concerns about work and reliance on kin in finding it. Numerous small kinship-based chain migration streams flow to a variety of destinations, producing a macro-level pattern of dispersion that appears rational and that meets the migration requisite of modern society.