Abstract/Details

INTERNAL MIGRATION AND SOCIOECONOMIC MODERNIZATION: KOREA 1910-1970

SEOK, HYUNHO.   University of Pennsylvania ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1980. 8018610.

Abstract (summary)

The objective of this study is to explain Korean internal migration over time in the context of its relation to socioeconomic modernization. Underlying the study is the conception that migration involves both individual life-career processes and collective social processes; hence the movements of people take place in accordance with variation in and accessibility to socioeconomic opportunities among different residential areas.

To this end, three general postulates relating migration to the process of modernization are proposed: (1) industrial development, accompanied by improvement of manpower quality, is an underlying cause determining the variation of socioeconomic opportunities among areas; (2) variation in opportunities for different categories of people among areas are reflected in migration differential; and (3) development of the transportation and communication systems are the main factors affecting the population's access to the opportunities.

The study focuses on three periods, the colonial, the war and immediate post-war era, and the decade 1960-70, a time of rapid modernization. Analyses of migration flows confirm the following hypotheses derived from the first and third postulates: (1) In-migration is postively related to the level of industrialization at destination while out-migration is negatively related to the same variable at origin, and therefore migration flows from the less industrialized areas to the more industrialized are greater than the reverse flows; (2) As a result, in- and out-migration are negatively associated with each other, and migration flows tend to be wave-like toward the most industrialized areas because of the negative effect of geographic distance on migration; (3) However, as industrial and transportational development become more widespread, the association between in- and out-migration tends to change to a positive direction and the wave-like phenomenon develops in relation to rural-urban continuum rather than to geographic distance.

The main findings from the analyses of migration differentials guided by the second postulate are: (1) Young adults are more migration-prone than younger or older persons, because they are more subject to the changes in socioeconomic status that accompany residential change; (2) As long as industrial and educational development continue, migrant's socioeconomic statuses in general tend to be higher than those of non-migrants. This is attributed to the increasing demand for the better educated manpower by the developing industrial sector coupled with the advantages of the better educated in taking socioeconomic opportunities in the sector; (3) However, migrant's characteristics in general are largely dependent upon the socioeconomic structures at origin and destination.

In addition, the analysis of migration during the period when the process of modernization was discontinued, shows that the main pattern of migration at the beginning of the period was return movement and that the movements of people in the period were directly influenced by the factors which interrupted the process. As the process recovered, however, migration developed as we hypothesized.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Demographics;
Demography
Classification
0938: Demography
Identifier / keyword
Social sciences
Title
INTERNAL MIGRATION AND SOCIOECONOMIC MODERNIZATION: KOREA 1910-1970
Author
SEOK, HYUNHO
Number of pages
352
Degree date
1980
School code
0175
Source
DAI-A 41/03, Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
ISBN
979-8-205-11623-7
University/institution
University of Pennsylvania
University location
United States -- Pennsylvania
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
8018610
ProQuest document ID
303072803
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/303072803