Original scientific paper
Motives of Emigration, Staying in W. Germany and Returning of Slovene Workers
Silva Mežnarić
; Fakultet za sociologiju, političke nauke i novinarstvo, Ljubljana
Abstract
»Why do people emigrate?« — is one of the basic questions in any mobility study
or migration survey; taken usually as a possibility to grip the motives of emigration —
staying abroad — and coming back of migrants in contemporary world, this question epitomizes
motivation studies in todays migration research.
Obtained responses are mainly coded within the push-pull matrix, and within the
decision model as well. The output obtained this way could be interpreted both on the
level of individuum and on the system level.
The present interpretation of »motives« of Yugoslav (Slovene) migrants in West Germany is founded on the research model, based of stratification, decision making and push-pull variables. The research was carried out in Germany (autumn 1974, number of respondents: 954). The basic assumptions of the model are:
a) the structure of the individual motives of emigration — staying — returning, could not be the explanatory mean for the migration situation of the whole (Yugoslav) system;
b) in order to have the motivation structure explained, individual motives have to be mapped into the decision making matrix both on individual and the system level;
c) it is absolutely necessary to test all findings from the migrant population on the population not influenced by migration situation.
The present state of the research doesn’t allow to make any conclusion on the basis of assumptions B) and C); nevertheless, the first one is partly tested. The results showed:
a) better income and salaries are not as frequent motives for emigration from Slovenia to W. Germany as one could expect; with income being on the third place among the total scope of reasons for emigration, we could argue that Slovene migration is not mainly material-incentives oriented;
b) the stratification indicators of emigration were factorized. This enabled us to obtain the basic regulators of the status of migrants before emigrating, we obtained being peasant or not; participating or not in the self management and political organizations; aspirations and possibilities for consumption; and general status of Darents of respondents.
c) corresponding regulators for the status of migrants in Germany were obtained as well. They are: consumption level, position within the working hierarchy, conditions of living and life stvle, and total number of year migrant worker spend in Germany.
d) correlation coefficients showed: no association between: the level of education and kind of motive for emigration; between motives for emigration and conditions of living (apartment) in Slovenia; between the level of development of the emigrating area and the motives for migration.
A very strong association exists between: motives for definite staying in W. Germany, and: educational level of respondents who decided to stay, family being in Germany or not, and the area of immigration in Germany.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
156141
URI
Publication date:
31.12.1977.
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