2. Migration and its determinants
2.7 Conclusion: towards a renewed historical-structural synthesis
Having presented and discussed the main theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of migration, the view endorsed in this thesis is that the neoclassical theory of migration, in any of its avatars (‘standard’ or NELM), is inherently incapable of coming to terms with the reality of past and present migration flows. Like with many other social processes, the most relevant determinants, trends and constraints to migration are to be found at the structural
48 level, and cannot be derived through aggregation – hence the theoretical superiority of the historical-structural approach. However, the latter is arguably in need of a new and improved synthesis, given the fact that it is scattered throughout a variety of partial models and explanations with emphases on different elements of the same process, and its neglect of relevant insights from complementary theoretical contributions that are in fact logically consistent with the historical-structural perspective.
This section concludes this chapter by briefly outlining what such a renewed historical-structural synthesis might look like. First of all, it would begin by acknowledging that the study of actually-existing migration flows must rely on the historical method, rather than on the deduction of outcomes from hypothesised assumptions regarding individual behaviour. This is a direct consequence of the fact that many of the central factors involved in migration occur, and make themselves manifest, at the structural level.
Second, even the most casual glance at the historical evidence would lead to the conclusion that migration in the past two to three centuries has been inextricably linked to the emergence, development and expansion of capitalism as a world system: at the local level, under the guise of the massively revolutionary process of urbanisation; at the global level, and especially in the post-WWII period, through the predominance of the flows from the
‘labour frontiers’ to the various regional and global ‘cores’ (Skeldon 1997). In this respect, the historical-structural synthesis would bring together the important insights from dual labour market theory, from more orthodox Marxist accounts of the functions of labour immigration in advanced capitalism and from theoretical accounts of the migration- inducing effect of the penetration of commodity and capitalist relations in the areas of origin.
In the meantime, such a renewed historical-structural synthesis would arguably prove most powerful and innovative if it acknowledged the fact that a number of ‘theories’
of migration which are often depicted as rivals of the historical-structural perspective are in fact ontologically, methodologically and theoretically consistent with it. Specifically, that is the case of the mobility transition, migration systems and migration network approaches to migration. Thus, if we take countries, or social formations, as our units of analysis, we find that the historical and structural processes that we have been referring to take place in relatively homologous ways from one social formation to the next, subject to their specific position both in the hierarchy of the world system and in ‘world time’ (Skeldon 1990).
Consequently, several insights from the mobility transition approach, especially in the
49 modified version put forth by Skeldon (1997), can certainly be fruitfully incorporated into this historical-structural synthesis.
Moreover, the concrete forms assumed by the general tendencies laid out in the standard historical-structural accounts depend on a range of concrete, complex and contingent circumstances, which have been competently addressed by the systemic and network approaches. Here, in fact, the latter two approaches add significantly to the explanatory power of the accounts of some historical-structural authors, whose emphasis on labour flowing in the opposite direction of capital has perhaps been excessive. True, the historical evidence seems to indicate that the disruption brought about by the introduction of commodity and capitalist relations is a crucial cause behind the creation of potentially migratory populations in today’s world. However, other factors and ‘systems’ come into play in determining the emergence, scale and direction of concrete migration flows, such as language and cultural factors, the ‘relative autonomy’ of the state system, or the ways in which the individual agency of migrants, especially through migration networks, can both consolidate existing structures and, at times, introduce changes to those structures. As Marx himself put it in an oft-quoted passage of the Grundrisse (1973:101), “the concrete is the concentration of many determinations”, and scholars claiming to adhere to this intellectual tradition ought not to overlook this caveat.
Hopefully, all of the above has rendered sufficiently clear the reasons why the historical-structural theoretical approach to migration is the one adopted in the context of this research project, albeit in a relatively syncretic form that takes account of insights from several logically compatible theoretical contributions. Against this theoretical background, in Part II of this thesis we shall be looking at how internal and international migration flows within and from Guinea-Bissau have been taking place in relation to wider structural processes under way both within this social formation and in the world system more generally; which concrete forms and characteristics it is that these flows have taken on; and how it is that they have acquired a momentum of their own.
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