The article presents analysis of the transformation of research programmes on migration and the communication strategies of migrants. It justifies the relevance of studying the displacement processes, which is accounted for the fact that the twentieth century turned out to be a century of migration that defined the global nature of the phenomenon. The thesis of the interdisciplinary nature of studying migration and the role of economic knowledge are revealed. The purpose of the article is to identify and to analyse the dynamics of migration process conceptualization in economic theory. A study of the transformation of theoretical knowledge on migration issues is connected with correlating the ontological and methodological approaches of classical science, the neo-classical research programme, and institutional, structural and historical approaches. Such scientific principles as individualism and holism are also applied to analyse the methodological base of the conceptualization. Analysis of the dynamics of the migration processes conceptualization discloses significant changes in the migration research methodology, which are determined primarily by the fact that the homogeneous social ontology, on which classical and neoclassic theories relied, is giving way to a more complex description of economic reality.Such perceptions are associated with the idea that social ontology can be likened to dynamic chaos, where people, involved in economic relations, present complex objects, whose choice is determined not only by their natural world but also by deep cultural, historical and ideological contexts. Such understanding should be reflected in modern economic research on migration processes and the communication strategies of migrants.