INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION THEORY: PERSPECTIVES ACROSS THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: While there have been ebbs and flows of international migration in the past, both cross-border movements of persons and proportions of immigrant populations are currently close to historic highs.1 Notably, these phenomena are not limited to traditional countries of inbound immigration in the New World, but include countries spanning all continents and even countries such as Japan that have been traditionally restrictionist in admitting immigrants. Not surprisingly, scholars in several disciplines have generated a sharply growing volume of writing in international migration in recent years, particularly since the 1990s.
Social scientists do not have a shared paradigm for immigration, but instead competing, diverse methodologies and issues of interest. Some disciplines such as sociology are of much earlier vintage than relative newcomers such as public choice. Except in some cases such as sociology and anthropology, there are still deep canyons across the disciplines. Nevertheless, most disciplines, even those that have joined the debate recently have acquired the quantitative tools that have long been staples in fields such as economics.