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21
Why, When and How? The Role
of Inequality in Migration Decision-making
Caterina Mazzilli , Jessica Hagen-Zanker ,
and Carmen Leon-Himmelstine
Introduction
For a long time, migration decision-making was seen as a one-off deci-
sion concerning whether to leave or to stay based on individual cost–benefit
calculations, usually monetary ones (Harris & Todaro, 1970; Massey et al.,
1993). Gradually, this concept has expanded to focus much more on the
“journey” of decision-making, both in the literal and figurative sense, encom-
passing types and modes of travel, trajectories and destination preferences
(Crawley & Jones, 2021; Hagen-Zanker & Mallett, 2016). This expansion
more accurately reflects the complexity of migration decision-making, since
migration does not “just” correspond to a one-time decision or even journey,
but rather starts much earlier on—that is, in personal mental processes
such as imagining and planning. At the same time, there is no certainty
on when migration and its effects end, if they ever do (Chambers, 2018;
Hagen-Zanker et al., forthcoming), even after the arrival in the place of
destination.
C. Mazzilli · J. Hagen-Zanker (B) · C. Leon-Himmelstine
Great Surrey House 203 Blackfriars Rd, London SE1 8NJ, United Kingdom
e-mail: j.hagen-zanker@odi.org.uk
C. Mazzilli
e-mail: c.mazzilli@odi.org.uk
C. Leon-Himmelstine
e-mail: c.leon-himmelstine@odi.org.uk
© The Author(s) 2024
H. Crawley and J. K. Teye (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of South–South Migration and
Inequality, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39814-8_21
455
456 C. Mazzilli et al.
Until recently, two competing theoretical models tried to make sense
of migration decision-making. On the one side, functionalism (Harris &
Todaro, 1970) considered migrants as rational agents who decide to move in
order to maximise their income and in response to “push–pull factors” (Lee,
1966). Income inequality plays a large part in this theory, as wage differ-
entials are seen as the key factor driving migration decisions and migration
is predicted to continue until wages have equalised. This approach assumes
that individuals have perfect access to information, make rational decisions
based on measurable, mostly economic, factors and are free to move, should
they wish to. Moreover, it ignores the manifold costs of migration. Before
individuals can access the higher wages resulting from migration, they first
have to pursue certain investments such as the material costs of travelling,
the living costs while moving and looking for work, the difficulty in adapting
to a new labour market and the psychological costs—not to mention that
they interact with other actors through this journey, such as employers,
who can refuse to give them work for reasons other than economic ones.
On the other side, the historical-structuralist model focused on the macro-
structure migrants are embedded in, seeing migration as both producing and
reproducing socio-economic inequalities between individuals and states (de
Haas, 2021). Yet, this model does not leave any space to individual agency,
portraying migrants as victims of the circumstances or as irrational beings
who move even when it is not beneficial to do so. De Haas (2021) and others,
such as Carling and Schewel (2020), moved towards filling the gap between
these two approaches through the “aspirations-capabilities framework”, which
conceptualises migration decision-making as “a function of aspirations and
capabilities to migrate in a given set of perceived opportunity structure” (de
Haas, 2021, 31). A focus on aspirations and capabilities helps to integrate
both concepts of agency and structure, considered to be one of the main chal-
lenges for advancing migration theory (de Haas, 2011). By highlighting the
role of aspirations, de Haas has paved the way for the inclusion of intangible
factors in decision-making, which we explore in detail below.
Both tangible and intangible inequalities play a role in migration decision-
making. We approach this theme from a theoretical perspective, grounding
our analysis on the current literature on inequalities as drivers of migration
within the so-called Global South. As for South–North migration, South–
South migration too is tightly connected to inequality, as Cela et al. (2022)
argue when describing it as a phenomenon that “often perpetuates inequal-
ities across borders” (194). The entanglement of inequality and migration is
also a reason why policy-makers focus on tackling poverty and inequality as a
way to reduce migration, with containment strategies intended to prevent
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 457
populations from the Global South from migrating to the Global North
becoming increasingly normalised (Landau, 2019).
The United Nations defines inequality as “the state of not being equal,
especially in status, rights, and opportunities” (UN, DS and UNPAU,
DPAD, and DESA, n.d.). Despite being a crucial concept for social justice,
the breadth of inequality as a concept makes it still prone to confusion.
Many authors have been singling out “economic inequality”, mostly refer-
ring to income, wealth and general living conditions, while others have been
focusing on access to rights (UN, DS and UNPAU, DPAD, and DESA, n.d.).
Currently, there is some consensus on the definition of inequality as unequal
“access to opportunities” (UN, DS and UNPAU, DPAD, and DESA, n.d.).
This perspective, which we embrace, shows the pervasiveness of the factors
determining inequality of opportunities both within and between countries
(UN, DS and UNPAU, DPAD, and DESA, n.d.).
Throughout the chapter, we distinguish between tangible and intangible
inequalities. Tangible inequalities are those inequalities that can be clearly
defined and measured. In other words, they have a quantifiable impact
on someone’s life, such as socio-economic inequality, education and skill
levels or unequal access to rights. Intangible inequalities, instead, are indi-
vidually perceived, such as subjective feelings of discrimination or injustice.
Being mental processes, they are less visible, more complicated to grasp,
and, as such, have been studied less. Both in theory and in everyday life,
telling tangible and intangible inequalities apart is not simple, as they often
coexist. For instance, someone might feel discriminated against (intangible
inequality) as a result of unequal economic structures (tangible inequality).
Therefore, our classification does not aim at separating them, as much as
presenting them more clearly, while shining light on those elements that have
not been adequately explored so far.
Tangible Inequalities—Socio-Economic
and Right-Access Inequality
Although economic inequality between countries has improved over the past
25 years, the gap between them is still considerable (World Bank Group,
2016), while inequality within many countries is increasing (Picketty, 2018).
The UN (n.d.) indeed reports that, “today, 71% of the world’s population
live in countries where inequality has grown”. As the UN rightly points
out, this figure is particularly important because inequalities within coun-
tries are those that people feel day after day: “this is how people stack up
458 C. Mazzilli et al.
and compare themselves with their neighbours, family members, and soci-
ety” (UN, n.d.) The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt exacerbated this
polarisation, as “globally the top 1% took 38% of all additional wealth
accumulated since the mid-1990s” (World Inequality Database, 2021). The
World Inequality Report 2021 divides inequalities into wealth, gender and
ecological—as global inequality more and more fuels, and is fuelled by,
climate change and ecological emergencies (Chancel & Piketty, 2021). While
the literature considers socio-economic inequality, it has not yet considered
ecological inequalities in relation to migration decision-making—apart from
a few exceptions (e.g., see McLeman et al., 2016). In line with these defi-
nitions, in this section we consider the impact of a broad range of tangible
inequalities on migration decision-making.
A high number of studies focuses on the links between economic
inequality (i.e. wealth or income differentials) and migration, although
research on South–South migration appears to be comparatively less nuanced
than that focused on South–North migration (see also Casentini et al., in this
volume). Already in 1980, Lipton noted that economic inequality is a driver
of migration. Grounding his observation on a number of rural villages in
India, Lipton (1980) argues that more unequal villages present a higher like-
lihood of rural–urban migration. Those who leave are predominantly young
men between 15 and 30 years old, which means that, with their departure,
villages are deprived of the fresh ideas and energy often fuelled by young
people and capable of challenging inequality.
Inequality is in its very nature a relative assessment—how people’s
(economic) status relates to others—and keeping this in mind makes the link
to decision-making clearer. In the 1980s, a set of influential papers known
as the New Economics of Labour Migration broadened existing economic
theories from a sole focus on income differences between source and origin
countries to economic stability, risk and social status—the latter is defined
as a household’s absolute income in relation to the income of others in the
community, also known as relative deprivation (Stark, 1991). As Massey et al.
(1993) explain, “people may be motivated to migrate not only to increase
their absolute income or to diversify their risks, but also to improve their
income relative to other households in their reference group” (452).
Still nowadays, economic inequalities are reflected on who is able to
migrate. International migrants tend not to come from the most deprived
sections of society, given the often-high costs involved in international migra-
tion (Massey et al., 1993). Access to finances supporting migration is often
“sourced from migrants’ savings, financial resources received from family
members, remittances from successful relations and friends abroad and their
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 459
connections” (Dinbabo et al., 2021, 221). Moreover, those coming from
wealthier families often go through less risky migration journeys and/or land
better-paid jobs once at destination. This in turn impacts on the remittances
sent back to the place of origin, which both reflects income differentials
between migrants and reproduces or potentially aggravates inequalities in
the sending country. However, Black et al. (2006) warn that this conclu-
sion is only partially accurate, because it frames remittances as a substitute
to home earnings rather than an additional cash inflow. Indeed, even if this
literature focuses on international migration, internal migration may also be
costly, as it involves initial expenses and/or depends on social networks and
job availability.
Rather than establishing whether migration increases or decreases
economic inequality, Black et al. (2006) argue that “any overarching conclu-
sion about impacts of inequality is unlikely to be very robust at a global
or even regional level” (2). On the contrary, they state, inequalities are
always context-specific and should be analysed as such. In addition, and most
importantly for this chapter, Black et al. (2006) urge scholars to approach
inequalities with a broader understanding than income and wealth. They
write: “there are socio-cultural dimensions to inequality, as well as inequalities
in access to power, whilst all aspects of inequality are highly gendered” (2)—
and all these concur to shape migration decision-making. In the context of
West Africans’ migration to the Maghreb (Libya and Morocco) and Europe,
Dinbabo et al. (2021) define inequality as “limited access to opportuni-
ties, poverty and unemployment amidst precarious development challenges”,
which go together with lack of “realistic expectations for a better life” (223).
Approaching inequality as more than just income and wealth, Cela et al.
(2022) discuss Haitian emigration as driven by persistent structural inequal-
ities, that is, a conjunction of economic and political instability originated
during the nation’s colonial past and the 1791–1804 revolution, to be then
sharpened by invasion threats, diplomatic isolation, occupation, authoritarian
governments, and natural catastrophes. The harsh living conditions generated
by these factors have pushed “its urban poor, rural peasants, middle class, and
even its educated youth to flee” (Cela et al., 2022, 194). This work reveals
how far back the roots of inequality can reach, and that they impact several
areas of social life at once.
Another well-explored area of study concerns the role of unequal gender
norms affecting migration decision-making, which sit at a unique intersection
between intangible and tangible. Evidence suggests that for men, migration
often has an added social and normative component, making it a “rite of
460 C. Mazzilli et al.
passage” where migration is seen as a path to adulthood and economic inde-
pendence (Massey et al., 1994;Tucker et al., 2013). For instance, Monsutti
(2007) writes that young Hazara males migrating from Afghanistan to Iran
see migration as an instrument to achieve both safety and social recogni-
tion while providing for their family, and, as such, as a pivotal step towards
manhood. For women, however, their migration decision can be interlinked
more to what they think is expected of them as women, to their posi-
tion in the household, and to their perceived family responsibilities (e.g. to
reunitewithpartnersortomarry)(Hidroboetal.,
2022). Gender norms
around kinship and care are also important factors influencing the deci-
sion to migrate or to stay put (Kanaiaupuni, 2000). Scalettaris et al. (2019)
conducted a study with young Afghan men at the south-eastern border of
Europe, revealing the complex network of mutual obligations between them
and their stayed-behind families, and the high pressure they are under. On
the one side, they are pushed to “succeed” in their migration by a “quest
for autonomy and recognition” (Scalettaris et al., 2019, 519), while on the
other side they gradually understand that the chances of settling in Europe
are slim—this driving them to become more competitive with and jealous of
their peers.
However, other studies have observed that some women do not only
follow the conventional gender roles of migrating as daughters or wives
but migrate with the purpose to continue studying or simply pursuing
a better life (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1992). Further evidence has shown that
gender norms are not static: they can and do change, with migration (and
other processes) being a potential trigger of change (Marcus et al., 2015).
Values and behaviours in the place of destination influence the set of norms
that migrants have acquired at home, for example, when women increase
their income, their confidence, their independence and their aspirations
(Bastia, 2013; Leon-Himmelstine, 2017). Alternatively, migration can rein-
force conservative or discriminatory gender norms (Tuccio & Wahba, 2018).
Summarising, Fechter (2013) argues that migration in and of itself is neither
oppressive nor liberating in gender terms, but that it rather has varie-
gated outcomes for women and men alike,1 which depend on the broader
socio-economic context they are part of.
As mentioned in the introduction, migration policies in the Global
North have increasingly focused on containing migration from the Global
South. The stream of policy measures focusing on reducing inequalities in
the places where migrations originate grounds on the assumption that, if
development and inequalities within countries are improved, out-migration
will go down. For instance, employment and education policies/programs
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 461
carried out in Global South countries are framed as a tool to potentially
mitigate economic, educational, but also gender inequality by providing
training and/or entrepreneurship skills needed to get a (better-paid) job,
and hence reducing the need to migrate. However, most studies examined
in a recent literature review find these programmes actually increase out-
migration (Hagen-Zanker & Hennessey, 2021b). For instance, the OECD
(2017) reports that participants in Technical and Vocational Education and
Training (TVET ) programmes in the Global South are statistically signifi-
cantly more likely to plan to emigrate than non-participants. This is due to
the challenges that migrants face in employing their newly acquired skills in
the local market, but also to their aspirations to put their training to use in
a context where there are more possibilities to profit from it. This research
demonstrates that, if a programme is not designed with reference to the local
labour market, it will not succeed in reducing socio-economic inequality via
new skills provision, simply because participants will not have the chance
to apply them locally. Finally, Hagen-Zanker and Hennessey (2021b)point
at individual and structural factors as complementary to employment and
education programmes. Beyond the programme itself, inequality at the indi-
vidual level (for instance, inequality in terms of wealth and class, gender
or education) and at the collective one (socio-economic opportunities, right
to work) greatly influence migration decision-making, and are often much
more important than small-scale short-term policies that do not result in any
structural changes.
Connecting both to this and to Cela’s et al. (2022) discussion of struc-
tural inequalities, we conclude this section with some further reflections
on the influence of policies on inequality and migration. In their work on
the efficacy of migration policies, Hagen-Zanker and Mallett (2022) discuss
how, over the past years, policies aimed at preventing irregular migration
from Global South countries have worked either through the building of
physical and bureaucratic obstacles or through the creation of alternative
“favourable” conditions to reduce the desirability and need for migration
(as discussed in the example above). Yet, they highlight that nation-states
have only limited capacity to influence population movements as long as
they do not tackle broader dynamics such as North–South, South–South
or rural–urban inequalities and exploitative relations, such as labour market
imbalances, opportunity differentials, conflicts and colonial legacies (Castles,
2004; Hagen-Zanker & Mallett, 2022; Lyberaki, 2008; Thielemann, 2004;
Wiklund, 2012). In conclusion, the existence of a causal relation between
migration-related policies and people’s movement is debatable, since the
impact of policies issued by faraway countries, regardless of how powerful, is
462 C. Mazzilli et al.
overshadowed by the daily force of global structural inequalities on people’s
lives.
Intangible Inequalities—Perception of,
and Feelings About, Inequality
We now move on to “intangible” inequalities, namely those referring to a
person’s own perception, rather than to a straightfor ward measurement.
There are several important reasons for spotlighting perceptions of and
feelings about inequalities. Firstly, this is very much an understudied area.
For instance, while it is now well established that income differentials are a
key driver of migration, only recently the literature has started exploring how
people experience and feel about inequality, inequities and discrimination,
and how this in turn affects migration decision-making (Hagen-Zanker &
Hennessey, 2021a).
A study conducted in Latvia by ¸Keš¯ane (2019) shows that Latvian
emigrants were very sensitive to vertical inequality and income differences
in their country of origin, and they expressed this through anger, disappoint-
ment, and resentment towards their government. However, they were less
sensitive to inequality in the country of destination. Their emotional reac-
tions did not correspond one–one to absolute difference in deprivation levels
within each country, but rather to the migrants’ perception of opportunities
available to them in their country of origin and in the country of destination
(Eade et al., 2007). Although ¸Keš¯ane’s work (2019) is not based on research
in the Global South, we find it provides a useful understanding of migrants’
different perceptions of inequality in countries of origin versus in countries
of destination and of the potentially unexpected ways this influences migra-
tion decision-making. In this context, migration is an emotionally charged
decision that can have an emancipatory function—or that can be perceived
as such.
The literature on the migration-emotion nexus too has, in recent years,
become more substantial. Work within this stream of literature has been
focusing on, for instance, feelings of entrapment, jealousy and frustrations
of one’s life situation (Belloni, 2019; Kalir, 2005). There is also some relevant
work on the connection b etween migration and shame (Bredeloup, 2017),
guilt (Constable, 2014) or hope (Grabska, 2020; Hernandez-Carretero,
2016), as there is relevant research on love and attachment to either people
or places (Mai & King, 2009), and on belonging (Schewel, 2015). Yet, these
accounts very rarely include considerations on perceived inequality.
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 463
A second reason to focus on perception is that, while some aspects of
someone’s life are easily measurable, others are “inherently hard to measure”
(Wolton, 2022), thus, focusing on how perceptions shape up and are expe-
rienced instead of attempting at objectively measuring them can foster our
understanding of the intricacies of decision-making. Discrimination is one of
these aspects. Wolton (2022) explains that we can use a broad or a narrow
approach when trying to quantify discrimination. While the broad approach
to discrimination tends to “look at simple differences in outcomes between
different groups”, such as wage gaps, the narrow approach “recognizes that
groups differ in more than one dimensions” (i.e. living in different locations,
being from different socio-economic backgrounds, etc.), and highlights that
all those dimensions can affect the outcome of the analysis. Wolton’s (2022)
argument also reminds us that categories of disadvantage (e.g. discrimina-
tion based on class) do not function in isolation and intersect with other
differences (such as race, ethnicity, age, sexuality and so on), usually having a
profound effect on migrant’s decision to migrate and their experience (Bastia,
2013). Obviously, the fact that discrimination or other elements are hard
to measure is not a justification to stop measuring them altogether. Rather,
exactly because measurement can hardly grasp the full extent of the impact
on discrimination on someone’s life, it is important to also enquire about how
people perceive, make sense and feel about it.
Third, sometimes it is perception of inequalities, rather than objective
differentials, that triggers (or discourages) migration. For instance, as it
emerges from ¸Keš¯ane’s study (2019), it is misleading to label economic
inequality in the country of origin as key for migration decision-making,
since comparative levels of income and wealth differentials are found in many
countries of origin and of destination. This means that, at times, frustration,
as well as perceived lack of recognition and respect compared to more privi-
leged groups in one’s society, can constitute a driver of migration much more
than monthly earnings.
Having illustrated why it is important to focus on perceptions of
inequality, we move onto defining some of the ways in which it can
be perceived, as identified from existing research. Inequality is multi-
dimensional and intersectional, thus people’s perception of it can draw from
various elements (i.e. gender, ethnicity and class just to name a few): however,
it must be remembered that most of the time perceptions of inequality in
different realms of life overlap and it is hard to separate the impact of one
over another. For instance, Vacchiano (2018) conducted a longitudinal study
with North African youth who had emigrated and found that they had done
so equally to get out of what they perceived as material marginality—i.e.
464 C. Mazzilli et al.
economic inequality—and to be able to enjoy “a good life”—a desire stem-
ming for a perception of social inequality. Vacchiano (2018) argues that their
migration experience is marked by “a sense of lack that derives from the expo-
sure to normative benchmarks of good life and the simultaneous exclusion
from the actual means of achieving it” (82).
Gereke’ s (2016) research with young men in Thailand and Mo’s (2018)
work in Nepal reached similar conclusions, showing that perceiving to suffer
from comparative material deprivation makes some people keener to take
risks. This in turn increases their likelihood of migration, including through
irregular channels. In her study with young Eritrean migrants, Belloni (2019)
reports that images coming through the media convey a specific image
of what modernity is, and the comparison of these with the goods and
services available in Eritrea, represented for the migrants a “gap between
their misery and the opportunities offered by the outside world” (Belloni,
2019, 344). Precisely, “the lack of petrol, the continual power cuts as well as
the low quality of products in the local market were interpreted as expres-
sions of Eritrea’s backwardness and a metonym of my informants’ existential
stuckedness” (Belloni, 2019,ibid.).
According to Dinbabo et al. (2021), it is the perception of a lack of local
opportunities and expectations of a better life that underlies the decision of
many West African migrants to cross the Mediterranean. As before, this stems
not only from an objective lack of opportunities—which we do not want to
downplay—but also from a reflection on which are perceived to be valuable
opportunities. Perception of opportunities and, indirectly, of the chances to
reduce inequality, lie at the core of the migration decision, the selection of
the destination (Baláž et al., 2016) and the prospects for return (Achenbach,
2017).
Contrary to the assumption that migration is a family decision, espe-
cially when young people are involved, Belloni’s (2019) study shows that
young Eritrean migrants often migrate to pursue their own aspirations, even
contravening the family’s plans, and/or to adhere to cultural values of moral
worthiness and provision for the family. Grabska (2020) focuses instead on
the journeys of Eritrean girls and young women to Khartoum. Her research
(2020, 22) exposes the “interplay between aspiration and desire of becoming
an adult linked to a specific geographical location, dreams of being elsewhere,
impossibilities of returning, and realities of uncertainties and being-stuck in
between”. The results of Grabska’s study (2020) are particularly rich and
support our argument in that they show that aspirations are mediated by age,
gender, culture, religion and geographical location. In addition, they show
that aspirations rarely emerge in isolation, but are rather paired with other
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 465
feelings, such as stuckedness, restlessness and/or frustration. Importantly,
Grabska (2020) also shows that, even in situations where migrants perceive to
be forcibly kept in an intermediate destination and/or in a phase of their life
(i.e. adolescence), migration is a way to expand their own decision-making
and to take charge of their own life.
Aspirations can also be mediated by social caste and ethnicity, which can
direct not only decisions on whether to migrate but also destination prefer-
ences. In a study on rural Nepal, Fischer (2022) finds that socially accepted
destination choices are linked to caste and gender. For instance, a low-caste,
male migrant might aspire to migrate to India, whereas a high-caste female
migrant might aspire to travel to Australia. Of course, these aspirations are
also tied in with the cost of migration and capacity to migrate to such
places and as such crossing over with tangible inequalities. In addition, the
returns from these different types of migration also differ, reproducing and
potentially worsening existing inequalities.
A small number of studies consider the perception of inequalities and
associated feelings of discrimination, leading to the decision to migrate. For
instance, Alloul (2020) examines the decision-making process of European
citizens of North African descent who had moved to Dubai to escape what
he defines as a sense of “racial stuckedness” (313). While at home they had to
cope with a stagnant socio-economic position and to face “racial ceilings for
holding an immigrant and Muslim heritage” (Alloul, 2020, 352), in Dubai
they found more opportunities for self-realisation and social mobility. Feel-
ings of discrimination do not exclusively encourage outward migration but
can also be the trigger for return. As an example, some studies on Turkish
migrants in Western Europe look at how perceived discrimination influences
return migration. Kunuroglu et al. (2018) find that perceived discrimina-
tion in the country of destination, along with a strong sense of belonging
to Turkey, played a decisive role in migrants’ decision to leave Germany,
France and the Netherlands to move back to Turkey. Similarly, Tezcan (2019)
investigates the main factors accelerating or postponing return migration for
Turkish immigrants living in Germany and finds that they are a combination
of economic and non-economic elements, including discrimination. More
specifically, “difficult economic conditions, stigmatisation in both countries,
social networks, commitment to the homeland, and perceived discriminatory
attitudes” (Tezcan, 2019, 1) are found to accelerate return migration. Feelings
of being discriminated against are often considered strong predictors of return
aspirations (Groenewold & de Valk, 2017). Yilmaz Sener (2019) discusses the
differences between the perception of discrimination and reasons for return
of Turks who had migrated back to Turkey from Germany and the United
466 C. Mazzilli et al.
States. While those who had lived in Germany mentioned discrimination and
identified it as a reason to return to Turkey, those who had lived in the United
States did neither mention it nor state it was a trigger for return. Yilmaz Sener
(2019) argues this depends on the presence in the country of destination of
either bright or blurred ethnic boundaries, the former leaving no ambiguities
on memberships while the latter being less clear cut.
Another stream of literature analyses the influence of perceived gender
discrimination on people’s aspirations to migrate and/or onto actual migra-
tion. Ruyssen and Salomone (2018) explore worldwide female “intentions
and preparations to migrate” (224) relying on micro-level Gallup World Poll
data from 148 countries collected between 2009 and 2013. Their study
concludes that, while women who “do not feel treated with respect and
dignity have a higher incentive to migrate abroad” (224). Concrete migra-
tion plans and journeys instead depend on a wider array of factors that are
greatly “traditional”, such as family obligations, but also on economic imbal-
ances between men and women resulting in men globally having more tools
and freedom to migrate. Nisic and Melzer (2016) reach similar conclusions,
arguing that establishing direct causalities between gender and migration can
easily become misleading if researchers do not account for macro-economic
factors such as pay gaps, strict gender norms, expectations or discrimination.
It is crucial to remember that migration in and of itself does not lead to
a univocal outcome: if in certain cases migration can be (imagined as) “a
way out of discrimination” (Ruyssen & Salomone, 2018), in others it can
also preserve gender inequality (Riano et al., 2015). This happens when, for
instance, the decision to migrate is not equally shared between members of a
family, or the environment and values in the place of destination reproduce
the same gender imbalances of the place of origin.
Research also finds that both aspirations to migrate and migration itself
can be tied to the feelings of isolation, discrimination and stigma based on
sexual orientation. Asencio and Acosta (2009) highlight this dynamic with
respect to the case of sexual minorities in Puerto Rico. They find that, “for
most participants, sexuality was not the reason they left Puerto Rico, but it
was a factor in their decision to not return” (34). Importantly, Asencio and
Acosta (2009) also state that ethnic identity contributes to sharpening sexual
minorities’ decision to migrate and/or not to return. Similarly, Del Aguila
(2013) identifies a trigger towards migration in the experiences of discrim-
ination based on sexual orientation reported by Peruvian gay men in their
country of origin.
In addition, some scholars shed light on discrimination and perceived lack
of belonging grounding on political elements. For instance, Charron (2020)
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 467
reports that the alienation felt by Crimean IDPs in Ukraine after the Russian
occupation of Crimea in 2014, together with socio-economic and emotional
factors, strengthened their decision to migrate elsewhere. In this context,
Charron (2020, 432) defines Crimeans’ migration as neither “exclusively
forced not entirely voluntary” but running along a blurred line. Similarly, in
their study conducted in the Adi Harush refugee camp in Northern Ethiopia,
Mallett et al. (2017, 21) report, that “social inequality and (perceived) differ-
ential treatment by Ethiopians cause many Eritreans to feel that they will
never become full member[s] of the Ethiopian society”.
Besides inequality perceived as discrimination, another significant element
is the perception of political and policy-related inequalities. Hagen-Zanker
and Mallett (2022) have shown that, regardless of what is established in
formal national and international policies, individuals’ decision-making is
more influenced by personal, cultural and social factors than by the content of
policies. This is the reason why, in the encounter between (potential) migrants
and migration policies, “outcomes cannot be taken for granted” (12). Paying
attention to these dynamics allows to shed some light not only on the intri-
cacies of migration decision-making, but also onto (the limits of) migration
policies’ impact. For instance, Mallett et al. (2017) write that “the lack of faith
in formal [migration] channels [in Ethiopia] is also heightened by perceptions
of unfairness and patronage in how the various [resettlement] programmes are
managed” (27).
In this section, we have highlighted some intangible inequalities emerging
from existing literature. However, this is by no means an exhaustive list,
as inequalities are multi-dimensional, context-dependent, and—most impor-
tantly—connected to individual perceptions.
Conclusion
This chapter has underlined the importance of inequalities for various stages
of migration decision-making. We have done this by giving particular atten-
tion to tangible inequalities—namely, those that can be measured such as
wealth, differences in education, skill levels or health, as well as intangible
inequalities—that is, those that are less observable and more personal such
as imagination, personality traits, emotions, feelings, beliefs and values based
on individual’s perceptions (Hagen-Zanker & Hennessey, 2021a). We also
consider the role that policies intended to address inequalities play in migra-
tion decision-making, given that such policies are often designed to deter
migration from the Global South.
468 C. Mazzilli et al.
Examining the role of tangible inequalities in shaping migration decision-
making helps us to understand the influence of economic and the macro-
structure factors which migrants are embedded in. The literature shows that
economic inequalities are important (Lipton, 1980), but migration decision-
making seems to be more the result of migrants’ desire to improve their
economic status. This desire is in fact combined with, and fuelled by,
perceptions of relative deprivation, rather than outcomes of absolute poverty
(Massey et al., 1993;Stark, 1991). However, income differentials do matter
when considering which migrants can fund their own migration, access the
safest routes and obtain better jobs at destination. It is also undeniable that
structural inequalities, originated in part by Global South’s colonial past and
sharpened by current economic inequalities, do matter and push individuals
to migrate (Cela et al., 2022).
Another important aspect of tangible inequalities is the role of unequal
gender norms and relations affecting migration decision-making. While men
often experience migration as a “rite of passage” and a path towards economic
independence, women consider what is socially expected from them when
deciding whether to migrate or stay put, although the literature has shown
that women also take decisions based on their desires to improve their mate-
rial situation and to pursue a better life (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1992). Gender
norms are dynamic and keep changing. This change is in part driven by
migration, although its direction (either t owards tighter or more egalitarian
norms) seems to be context-specific (Fechter, 2013).
We also examined the literature on migration policies from the Global
North to deter migration from the Global South, highlighting that such
policies are not necessarily designed with reference to the structural factors
that drive migration, thus usually struggling to accomplish their intended
deterrence goals.
Moving forward, the chapter reviewed the ways that intangible inequalities
shape migration decision-making. We stressed the important role that percep-
tion of inequalities plays to our understanding of the migration decision-
making process: it can offer valuable insights regarding the place of emotions
(¸Keš¯ane, 2019), the aspects in migrants’ lives that are “hard to measure”
(Wolton, 2022), and the role of such perceptions regarding decisions to
migrate or to stay put. There are many intangible inequalities involved in the
decision-making process among migrants. By means of example, the desire
to achieve one’s aspirations for a better life plays a key role (Belloni, 2019).
While these aspirations and decisions can be shaped by potential migrant’s
intended goals, Grabska (2020) showed that other factors are important to
consider, such as individual characteristics (class, gender, age), personal values
21 Why, When and How? The Role of Inequality … 469
(influenced by culture or religion) or caste and ethnicity, as shown by Fischer
(2022). Other intangible inequalities influencing the decision to m igrate are
those associated with feelings of discrimination—which can also influence
return decisions—based on race and ethnicity (Alloul, 2020; Tezcan, 2019),
gender (Ruyssen & Salomone, 2018), sexual orientation (Asencio & Acosta,
2009; Del Aguila, 2013) or political grounds (Charron, 2020). Another
important factor is the perception of migration policies as unequal and
unfair, which is one reason why many migrants disregard or interpret policies
according to their needs.
The key contribution of this chapter is to amplify emerging literature
in the Global South on the synergies between migration and intangible
inequalities, including personal and emotional dimensions (Hagen-Zanker &
Hennessey, 2021a). We have shown that perceptions of inequality are multi-
dimensional, intersectional and overlapping. Therefore, exploring how they
are shaped and experienced by migrants at different stages of the migration
trajectory is important to deepen our understanding of the decision-making
process. Nevertheless, we want to reiterate that tangible inequalities also
matter as economic, wealth and structural inequalities are decisive factors in
the decision to migrate.
Despite the evolution of the literature on tangible and intangible inequal-
ities and their influence in shaping migration decisions, important evidence
gaps stand out. The literature on tangible inequalities between the Global
South and the Global North is much richer than the one looking at
internal inequalities between and within Global South countries and how
they influence migration decisions. In the case of intangible inequalities, the
“socio-cultural dimensions to inequality” highlighted by Black et al. (2006)
are also less understood. For example, broader socio-cultural norms may
influence migration decisions, as for instance migrating to fulfil commu-
nity expectations to work or study abroad in order to improve the economic
conditions of the individual and their community, or to comply to expecta-
tions to contribute to social and religious events with remittances. Likewise,
the literature linking feelings of discrimination and decisions to migrate,
although growing, deserves more attention. New research is also needed
regarding the mutual relationship between tangible and intangible inequal-
ities in the Global South equally covering the different phases of people’s
migration trajectories—since at present most studies still concentrate on the
pre-migration phase. An excellent example of such research is Silva, Barbosa
and Fernandes’s chapter (this volume), which illustrates the inequality and
structural racism experienced by Haitian migrants in Brazil.
470 C. Mazzilli et al.
Further research should look into the connection between intangible
inequalities and policies, aiming at fostering a dialogue between scholars and
policy-makers. The literature looking at the role of policies shows that nation-
states usually assume there is a linear relationship between higher skills and
economic development linked to a lower desire to migrate. However, indi-
viduals may also consider their families’ and communications’ expectations
of them, what social mobility means in their context, and how this could
be achieved, along with their personal aspirations and capabilities to migrate.
Another example of the gap between intangible factors and policies is the
current anti-migrant discourses in some parts of the Global North and the
resulting legal uncertainty for some Global South migrants already settled in
Global North countries. These discourses and legal barriers are probably exac-
erbating individual’s feelings of discrimination, affecting decisions to further
migrate or to return. We encourage other scholars and practitioners to look
into these less analysed dynamics in order to broaden the understanding and
fair applicability of migration decision-making.
Acknowledgements This work has been undertaken as part of the Migration for
Development and Equality (MIDEQ) Hub. Funded by the UKRI Global Chal-
lenges Research Fund (GCRF) (Grant Reference: ES/S007415/1), MIDEQ unpacks
the complex and multi-dimensional relationships between migration and inequality
in the context of the Global South. More at www.mideq.org.
Note
1. Although this specific study only mentions women and men, we are mindful
that gendered experiences are not limited to these two categories.
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