Introduction: Migrant Workers and Their Role in Rural Change

Abstract

This introductory essay and collection concern the social processes within which migration for manual work is located and which are influenced by that same migration. Writing from detailed empirical studies of migration in South and South-east Asia and Africa, the contributors provide illustrations of the importance and normality of migration in rural life. The studies show that the relationship between migration and rural change is complex and context-specific. Migration has often increased inequality, but in many cases also supported vulnerable livelihoods. Much depends on the social processes at work, the ways in which identities shift through migration and how gendered ideologies of work are deployed and change. Labour mobility usually serves the interests of capital, not only in ensuring labour supply, but also, often, in dividing workers; however, the power of capital relative to labour is contingent. We conclude this essay by exploring ways in which public policies can support migrants by making migration less costly and more secure, by reducing discrimination and enhancing access to health care and other services.social processes, migration for manual work, empirical studies, south and south-east Asia and Africa, rural change, labour mobility,

Embedded Cosmopolitanism and the Politics of Obligation: The Ghanaian Diaspora and Development

“…From early theories about migrants acting atomistically there has been a move to situate the migrant within the decision-making unit of the household (de Haan and Rogaly, 2002). From this, migration becomes a means of spreading risk, increasing income and investing in human capital.…”

Making homes: the Ghanaian diaspora, institutions and development

“…Contemporary work on migration as a social process is supportive of this broad agenda (de Haan, 2000;Papastergiadis, 2000). Migration is acknowledged as important in poverty reduction (de Haan and Rogaly, 2002), though much work focuses on the motivations among and impacts upon individuals and their household and/or return flows in the form of income. This paper does not refute these important claims, but focuses on other flows and other actors.…”

Migrant Informal Workers: A Study of Delhi and Satellite Towns

“…Those who are literate and above, have received an average years of schooling by 6.2 years, our sample workers received education about 4.0 years less than that received by workers in the organized sector (10.1 years). In all the locations, among the workers effective and functioning literacy is lacking 4 . An acquisition of skill is only having with a small number of workers, as the importance of education is well known, it is key for obtain gainful, productive and remunerative employment.…”

“…On the other side it is also evident that the states which have less developed status of their economy, sending more out-migrants than they are receiving, virtually, are net loser of their population. Such trends suggest that the push factors have been far more effective in inducing a large volume of mobility (Rao,[3]; de Haan and Rogaly, [4]; Mitra, [5]). This shift of population from less developed states has been followed by a corresponding increase in the proportion of the urban population, and subsequently, an increase in the proportion of the unorganized workforce.…”