Migration analysis in South Africa: utilising the opportunities and strengths: reducing the threats and weaknesses

Abstract

This paper discusses the potential utility of some of the available data sets for modeling and other national and local migration analyses, and emphasizes the need for and potential of longitudinal migration research. A key objective of the paper is to elaborate on the potential utility of theory-based migration modeling. The emphasis in the paper is thus more on theory-based suggestions for linking the different data sources during modeling than on actual applications f the latest census data. This is done by means of a conceptual framework that incorporates most of the latest theoretical contributions and at the same time also attempts to make provision for the often-opposing paradigmatic viewpoints of both the structuralists and the behaviorists.