Internal migration in Spain: a geographical interpretation

Abstract

After a general review of nitration theory and a historical resume of internal migration in Spain, three modern migration phases were identified - each coinciding; with important socio-economic changes.
Despite the serious under-estimation of recent internal migration and the difficulty of "marrying" net balance statistics and directly-recorded data, it was shown that the errors of one method effectively cancelled out the errors of the other, so.that migration patterns produced by either were comparable. An original description of the patterns followed.
Through an analysis at national, regional and individual levels, it was shown that migration-decision was a three-stage process - socio-economic, normative and psycho-social, "pull" factors were more important than "push" - especially personal "pull"- but poorer correlations were produced at "macro- aid micro-regional" levels than at national level. Changing rural normative attitudes, especially stress resulting from the inability of the young to conform to two behaviour patterns (traditional and modem), resulted in quarrels at the individual level triggering off migration - especially in the more "violent" South where people moved for more immediate reasons.
Despite the important social-distance space separating shantytown-dwellers from the host society which made assimilation impossible, migrants achieved their main aim of upward social mobility - although their continual geographical mobility implied some continued dissatisfaction (moreso in Madrid than Barcelona).
Migration has had important social consequences. It is correcting rural socio-economic structures and enabling the growth of a new urban middle class which may yet have important peaceful social-political consequences.
The intermediate position of Spain in the early 196Os between that of a developed and developing nation was confirmed, internal migration displaying characteristics of both development typos.
The justification of geographical patterns originally noted was subsequently -substantiated, emphasizing the validity of the geographical approach to migration studies.