User:Bella1109/OLES2129/draft

Step Migration

Step Migration

Associated WikiProjects:

My article can be associated with two different categories of WikiProjects as it is both a subbranch of Globalization and a feature of Geography.

Description

Step migration is a migration pattern regarded by some scholars to be a widely popular form of international migration in the contemporary globalised world. The step migration hypothesis was conceptualised in 1885 by E. G. Ravenstein who observed migration as occurring stage by stage as rural inhabitants move closer to urban areas of growth. This idea evolved into scholars such as Conway seeing step migration as being characterised by movement up an urban hierarchy. Other scholars like Paul see step migration as an option for migrants to overcome structural barriers that prevent them from legal entry into their preferred destinations by stepping up the hierarchy and accumulating sufficient migrant capital. There is a large breadth of study proving the existence of step migration in many international migration patterns, however, there is yet to be a consensus over its exact specification and measurement.

Sources and Annotations:

Conway, D. (1980). Step-Wise Migration: Toward a Clarification of the Mechanism. The International Migration Review, 14(1), 3-14. doi:10.2307/2545058

This journal article will be used primarily in the “Overview” section of the Wikipedia page as it provides a clear conceptual and methodological definition of step migration. It gives information on how the concept of step migration is often ambiguous and inconsistent in its specification and so seeks to clarify how step migration is specified and measured. Conway draws on the conceptualiser of step migration theory, Ravenstein, as well as other empirical works including Hudson, Redford, and Riddell and Harvey to form his definition of step migration. This is a reliable source as it is an article by an expert in the field and is published in a peer reviewed journal on behalf of the Center for Migration Studies of New York.

Paul, A. (2011). Stepwise International Migration: A Multistage Migration Pattern for the Aspiring Migrant. American Journal of Sociology, 116(6), 1842-86. doi:10.1086/659641

This article is useful for the ‘Overview’ section of the Wikipedia article because it provides a clear definition of step migration, outlines what distinguishes it from other migration patterns, its boundary conditions, and mechanisms that explain and further its popularity. The author provides insight into how step migration is highly pervasive globally as a popular form of international migration flow. This source is also useful for the ‘Step Migration of Filipino workers’ subsection of ‘Current migration trends’ since it focuses on the experience of Filipino domestic workers as evidence of step migration in action and as motivated by the desire to overcome cost and policy barriers preventing entry to preferred destinations. This source is reliable as it is featured in the top journal for sociology, and Paul uses her own original research through interviewing Filipino workers. She has also won multiple book awards for her work.

Hawthorne, L. (2010). How Valuable is “Two-Step Migration”? Labor Market Outcomes for International Student Migrants to Australia. Motor Control, 14(2), 5–36. Retrieved from https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/011719681001900102

This article will be used in the ‘Importance’ section as it shows the vitality of step migration in globalised migration patterns today. The source provides information on the step migration of students and explains it as a proliferating worldwide phenomenon. Hawthorn details how countries are introducing study migration pathways, based on step migration, to attract international students who will later become skilled workers. The article emphasises the importance of step migration in its evaluation of its economic value and how it creates a reliance on skilled migrants by analysing Australia’s economy and policy through census data, original research and compiling other peer reviewed sources. This is a reliable source as the author is a well-regarded academic in their field and has been commissioned by large international governmental organisations as well as multiple governments.

Liu, L. (2018). Chinese Transnational Migration in the Age of Global Modernity : The Case of Oceania (First edition). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315438535

This book is a useful source for the subsection of ‘step migration of Chinese migrants in New Zealand’ as it explains how step migration has become a highly popular pattern among Chinese migrants. Liu focuses on New Zealand as a primary case study as to how Chinese migrants use New Zealand as a step toward their preferred destination of Australia. Liu identifies step migration as part of a wider circulatory transnational migratory movement that describes the migration route of many Chinese immigrants. The book also provides information on migrants’ aims behind step migration and how it helps them overcomes structural obstacles to preferred destinations. This source is reliable as it is a published book by an author with multiple post-doctoral fellowships in Singapore and New Zealand.

Howe, E., Huskey, L., & Berman, M. (2013). Migration in Arctic Alaska: Empirical evidence of the stepping stones hypothesis. Migration Studies, 2(1), 97–123. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnt017

This article will provide information for the subsection ‘Step Migration in Arctic Alaska’ of the section ‘In specific countries’ as the authors describe and test the step migration hypothesis through analysis of the migration of the Inupiat people in Arctic Alaska. Howe, Huskey and Berman find the existence of step migration up and down an urban and rural hierarchy through evaluating census data and logit models. The source also informs of key factors motivating step migration and destination decisions, both of which explain migratory patterns worldwide and aid in policy developments by cities and states. This article will be a reliable source because it is a recent study, and the authors are highly qualified with doctorates and specialisations in economics.