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Explaining Australian immigration
Journal of the Australian Population Association
|November 1, 1996
Summary
This review examines post-WWII Australian immigration explanations, identifying pull-factor theories and noting the increasing relevance of push-factor research, including family migration and asylum seekers.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Economics
- Political Science
Background:
- Post-Second World War literature on Australia's immigration program.
- Three main schools of thought based on net pull factors have been identified: the official explanation, and two unofficial explanations focusing on migrants as workers and consumers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and synthesize the literature explaining Australia's immigration program.
- To assess the relevance of existing explanations in light of changing migration dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of post-Second World War scholarly works.
- Analysis of explanations based on net pull and net push factors.
Main Results:
- Identified three dominant schools of thought based on net pull factors: official, migrant-as-worker, and migrant-as-consumer explanations.
- Observed a shift towards the increasing importance of net push factors since 1974, diminishing the contemporary relevance of some earlier theories.
- Noted the nascent development of push-factor-focused perspectives, with research emerging on chain migration, family-based strategies, asylum seekers, temporary migration, and migration law.
Conclusions:
- Existing pull-factor-based explanations for Australian immigration require re-evaluation due to the rise of push-factor influences.
- Further research is needed to develop coherent theoretical frameworks for understanding migration driven by net push factors.