26. Influences
on Migration Patterns
_________ have affected people very much. Very few people went
back. Migration slowed downs a little bit in 1919-1920 and in
part because of jobs. But in 1923 there's a huge upsurge again,
so it's just a few years after.
[Female voice] And this is for the same reasons in 1923.
Yeah, the same kinds of reasons. Again, if you think about what
do we mean by reasons, in other words I guess the way I try to
think about this is something that makes something possible as
opposed to something that makes people do something. So that the
existence of jobs makes migration possible. It may not be for
other ethnic groups, I mean that's why you have to look at each
ethnic group differently. But I think in this case, what you see
are jobs that make it possible to move from one place to another,
but a whole set of reasons that make it desirable. In other words,
why would I rather be there than here, well there's a whole set
of reasons and I think it has something to do with this thing
called citizenship. But it doesn't matter if there aren't any
jobs there because you're not going to go because you'd be crazy
to go.
That's why the second Great migration is different because you
go even though there's no jobs. And the same thing during World
War II, there are race riots during World War II in a variety
of northern cities and yet migration increases dramatically
right
afterwards. Chicago has race riots in the early-mid 1950s related
to housing all over the south side. And yet there are huge numbers
of people coming from the south so riots don't seem to discourage
people from coming.[Female voice] So sometimes is it, could
it be a trend, I mean I know people do not leave what they know
for something, but is
it, could it be, be something popular just because, a trend or
something like that that starts and then a whole bunch of people
You have to--that's part of it although, and many people do have
to leave the South during the fifties and sixties. But during
this period they don't have to leave.
There is a phenomenon called chain migration where people go
where they know people. And so once migration begins, it tends
to continue.
One prime example is that people from a certain town
in Italy would all go to one place. Three people go and everybody
starts to follow. And the problem with chain migration is that
often chain migration starts when there are jobs available and
then you get to a point where there are no jobs available but
because of the chains, because of the familiarity of people
who
are already there, people are still going, but now they are going
to a place where there's no jobs. The economists call this irrational,
and you see that not just in this case but in lots of cases around
the world especially, actually, in the last ten to fifteen years
to African cities where you have chain migration situation where
the economic rationality of it is completely gone.
But the other thing is that I think, again if you sort of think
harder about this, the fact that riots don't discourage people,
who are migrating, I think that tells you about the importance
of violence and terror in the South. That OK, so there's a riot,
big deal. Compare it with what we've got here, I can deal with
that.
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