OPTIC
Lee's Migration Model
P
T
Interrelationships
Parts
O
Title
Words
Object
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Graphic/Verbal Model
Origin Location, Intervening Obstacles, Intervening Opportunity, Destination
Location, Potential Emigrant, Uncertainty/Perception Questions
Lee's Migration Model
1. KEY PART OF MODEL IS HUMAN DECISION MAKING ELEMENT. These factors
vary from person to person. Migration is not just ‘outside forces and pull/push
factors but a deep conscious decision that individuals make Some time pull
factors while sometime push factors are responsible for migration. Decision to
migrate in a balancing of perceived positive and negative factors in both
locations.
I
2. Push/pulls can vary widely – economic is probably most important
3. The decision to move will rarely be made on the basis of a single factor. Each
person perceives the attributes differently depending on personal characteristics
like age, sex, socio-economic class, occupation and education.
Conclusions
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1. Lee (1966) produced a series of Principles of Migration, in an attempt to bring
together all aspects of migration theory at that time. Of particular note was his
origin – intervening obstacles – destination model which emphasized the role of
push and pull factors. Migration in his model is SELECTIVE: age, gender, and social
class affect how persons respond to push-pull factors, and these conditions also
shape their ability to overcome intervening obstacles
2. Problem with model CONSTRAINTs: The model doesn't account for the fact
that some people have less ability to act on migrant decisions even with exact
same push pull perceptions (poor people less likely to move)
Filling in Lee's Model
Name: ___________________________
A. Find a partner. You and your partner will receive a card describing the situation of a person considering emigration. With your partner, fill in the table
below with any push factors, pull factors, intervening obstacles, and intervening opportunities that may apply to your emigrant. Write small!
Push Factors
Economic
Political
 No jobs (high
unemployment/poor
economy)
 Undesirable jobs (poor pay, no
advancement, no job security)
 Population growth (European
cities during Industrialization)
 High housing costs
 Traffic gridlock
 High Taxes
 Primitive conditions
 Forced Migration for economic
reasons (slavery, British sent
Indian contract laborers to E.
Africa in 19th c.)
 Poor medical care/system
 Political
Persecution/Discrimination
based on
 race (Sudan)
 religion (Indian Partition,
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Pull Factors
Jobs/strong economy
More desirable jobs
(better pay, advancement
opportunites)
Educational Opportunities
More career
choice/opportunities
Need for guest workers at
destination
contract labor (moving
expenses paid then
worker pays it back)
Good government
assistance for immigrants
(Eastern Europeans to
Germany)
Affordable housing
better government
services (health care,
education, etc.)
Selective migration
policies (e.g. destination
country wants me for my
skills)
government incentives
Intervening Obstacles
 Cost of migrating (transport,
housing, food, passport, visa)/lack
of capital
 Bureaucracy
 Passport/Visa Restrictions (selective
migration policies)
 Legal Restrictions/Quotas (e.g. U.S.
lets in Cubans but not Haitians,
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Cultural
European and Russian Jews to
Israel, British anti-protestant
laws)
social group (British "poor
laws", Rwanda)
political opinion/affiliation
(Stalin gulags)
Political Instability
War (civil or foreign
invasion)(e.g. Vietnam,
Rwanda, former Yugoslavia
break up in Balkans,
Poor governance/corruption
Poor public services
No social security/retirement
security
Forced migration or expulsion
for political reasons(Stalin,
Native Americans, convicts to
Australia, Castro Mariel
Boatlift,
Palestinians after creation of
Israel, Asians kicked out of
Uganda by Idi Amin)
colonial ties (Algerians to
France, Indians or Caribbeans
to UK)
Poor entertainment
opportunities (no fun
here!)(especially for young
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(Indonesians off of Java,
Russian eastward, US
homesteaders westward)
political
freedom/liberty/democrac
y
religious freedom
freedom from racial or
social group based
persecution
respect of individual rights
political stability
good governance
South Africa only allowed in "pure"
European descent)
 better status for women
 Language
 Kinship links (follow family  Misinformation about destination
or friends to new
country
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Environmental
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people)
Perceived threat to way of life
(S. Africans to Australia after
end of Apartheid)
Crime
Poor marriage opportunity
Unfavorable demographics
(too many old people, kids,
young adults)
Unhealthy/Polluted physical
environment
Too little water
(Drought/desertification (e.g.
Sahel)
Lack of clean water, e.g.
Sahel, Dust Bowl
Too much water (flooding, e.g.
Katrina)
Population pressure (lack of
resources)
Natural hazard (e.g. Hurricane
Katrina, volcano: Montserrat,
famine (Ireland potato blight),
earthquakes (Haiti), tsunami
(SE Asia 2004),
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destination)
safe environment for kids
less crime
More entertainment
opportunities
Favorable demographics
(more people my age!)
Better chance of marrying
 Hostile attitude toward immigrants
in destination country
 Family Pressure to stay
 Illiteracy/lack of education
 Having many dependents
 physically attractive (rural)  Distance
area (mountains,
 Natural physical Barrier, e.g. Ocean
beach)(nowadays one can
(Atlantic for European migrants),
"go rural" and still be
River (Rio Grande for Mexican
connected)
migrants), mountains, deserts (U.S.
 slower pace of life/peace
migrants to California)
and quiet
 Man made physical barriers/border
 attractive climate (retirees
crossings (U.S. Mexican border
to Florida)
wall/fence, Great Wall of China,
Berlin Wall, Israeli/Palestinian Wall)
 Intervening Opportunity: Job or Economic Opportunity encountered on way to planned destination.
B. Present your findings to the class. Add to the table any items mentioned by your classmates that you did not think of or which did not apply to your
“There is always an element of ignorance or even mystery about the
hypothetical immigrant.
area of destination, and there must always be some uncertainty with
regard to the reception of the migrant in the new area” This is
particularly true with international migration.
1. Is a potential emigrant more likely to accurately perceive the push/pull factors of his
country of origin or his country of destination? Why?
2. Might a negative factor (discouraging migration) for one person be perceived as a
positive factor for someone else? Give two examples.
Yes. Example: One person likes cold weather, another does not. Or
woman may want out of patriarchal society whereas man sees this as
3. Give examples of how each of the following factors might influence how a potential emigrant
might perceive push/pull factors or intervening obstacles
a positive.
(this is called migration selectivity: age, gender, educational level, economic status):
a. age: fewer family ties/responsibilities, fewer ties to existing job, less stuff to carry, good health makes moving easier, better job prospects, physical
obstacles to migration may be perceived as less difficult, more capable of learning language and other abrupt life changes, Most migrants spend their youth
in the are of origin and would enjoy good health and limited responsibilities. The may over evaluate the positive elements of the place and under evaluate
the negative. (SHOW SLIDE on AGE SELECTIVITY)
b. gender: men more likely to migrate long distances, women more likely to migrate with children making move more difficult, better job prospects
c. educational level: may know language better, may have better information or access to information about destination (knowledge at a distance), more
skills make employment prospects better, maybe more welcome by host county's immigration laws (US college grads twice as likely to move as HS drop outs)
d. economic status: better able to absorb cost of move, more welcome by host country's immigration laws