Immigration Networks

Immigration networks are built on the interpersonal ties that develop between migrants, members of their host societies, and people staying in their home countries, based on kinship, friendship, and a common culture or place of origin. Using this definition, academics have looked at migration from a network theory perspective. While older theories have concentrated on the choice of the individual migrant, looking at networks means analyzing a wider web of family and communal [Page 919]relationships as the structure within which the decision to migrate is taken. Risk diversion becomes an important catalyst, rather than the individual choice, for profit maximization. Although factors such as wage differentials, the pull factor of opportunity in a developed country, or the push factor to leave a poorly performing economy ...