THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF MIGRATION

TO LATIN AMERICAN CITIES*

Robert V. Kemper

University of California, Berkeley

INTRODUCTION

In recent years anthropologists have focused much attention upon
the modernization of traditional societies and "developing" countries.

Such a shift in research interests has been accompanied by a re-evaluation
of the position of anthropology within the social sciences. The study of
the urbanization process provides a case in point. Once the domain of
demography, sociology, and other social sciences, urbanization has now
become such an important category in anthropological discussion that

"urban anthropology" has gained a certain popularity and fashionability,
especially among the younger members of the profession (cf. Eddy 1968).

Urbanization, however defined, is a many-faceted object not
susceptible to many of the anthropologists' traditional theories and

methods. However, the very complexity of cities and urban populations
beckons us onward, just as the promise of urban life often encourages
other ruralites to migrate cityward. Thus, the urban anthropologist

seldom abandons his traditionally rural subject matter; rather, we follow
the Indian and the peasant to the city. While the other side of urban-

ization -- namely, the influence of the city on its hinterland -- is seldom
given sufficient attention, its substantial importance must be recognized.

*The research and writing of this paper was carried out while the author

held a Traineeship in Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology, Uni-

versity of California, Berkeley. The financial support (Grant No. GM-1224,
administered through the Division of Medical Services of the National

Institute of Health) which made possible the preparation of this paper is
hereby gratefully acknowledged.

In this paper I shall outline the present status of the anthro-
pological study of migration to cities in Latin America. This geograph-
ical limitation on the subject serves a dual purpose: first, there is

a commonality of theme and method to most migration research done within

this region; second, it is possible to make more satisfactory comparative
statements about the results of such case studies within this well-defined
universe. In order to facilitate the analysis, I have arbitrarily divided

the problem into several parts: (a) theoretical orientations; (b) patterns
of migration; (c) causes of migration; (d) the "ideal-type" migrant;

(e) problems of adjustment;   (f) process of mobility;  and (g)   fulfilment
of expectations.

A. THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS

Anthropological interest in Latin American urbanization has been
dominated by Redfield's ideal-type formulations, usually described as the
"folk-urban" or "rural-urban" continuum (although sometimes as dichotomy

instead of continuum). Since his work has already been subjected to close
scrutiny from several points of view (cf., among others, Benet 1963; Lewis
1965; Mintz 1953; and Pahl 1966), I shall only note the major feature of
his model. Based on a study of four community "types" in Yucatan, Red-

field concluded that as the form of society changes from "folk" to "urban"
there is an increase in disorganization, secularization, and individual-
ization (1934; 1941).

Early criticism of Redfield's work was championed by Lewis. In
a now-famous analysis of migrant experiences in Mexico City, he found that
family life remained strong, that religious observances continued, that

ties to the village were maintained, and that individualization was tem-
pered by the cohesiveness of the migrants to their own group within the
city and to the village as well. Thus, Lewis argued that urbanization
occurred without "breakdown" (1952: passim).

Others have since joined Lewis in a re-appraisal of Redfield's
formulation of the consequences of the urbanization process. Their

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arguments have had a double thrust: on the one hand, they argue that the
available evidence does not support his allegations about the nature of

urban life; on the other hand, they contend that many migrants to cities
have in various ways become "pre-adapted" to an urban way of life so as
to avoid much of the disorganization, secularization, and individuali-
zation that may exist in urban situations.

Furthermore, it is clear that the study of rural-urban migration
to Latin American cities will receive little future enlightenment from
either application or criticism of Redfield's theories of society. In-
stead, we must face this certitude: those aspects of Latin American
urbanization related to migration involve a multitude of factors not

easily reducible to formulae. We must neither feel burdened by Redfield's
ideas nor cease our pursuit for more satisfactory theoretical orientations.
Perhaps the cross-disciplinary fertilization so characteristic of urban
studies will involve anthropologists in the necessary expansion of our

traditional frames of reference. For example, recent studies in socio-
logy (Balan 1969;  Bock and Iutaka 1969), in economics (Herrick 1965),

and political science (Cornelius 1969) provide valuable insights, which

when joined to anthropological methods and theories ought to significantly
improve our contributions to the analysis of Latin American urbanization.

B. PATTERNS OF MIGRATION

In its broadest sense, rural-urban migration may be separated
into three aspects: spatial, temporal, and demographic. The meanings

which I attach to these different patterns will become clear below. Of

course, this outline forces us to concentrate on general themes, so that
the often interesting or unique case becomes subsumed within larger
patterns.

We may distinguish three common spatial patterns of migrant

origin and destination. First, migrants may move directly from a village
to a large city (e.g., see Lewis 1952; Butterworth 1962). Second,

migrants may go from village to small town and then finally to a large

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urban center (e.g., see Mangin 1967:69; Herrick 1965:55; and Germani 1961:
212). This pattern is usually called "stage migration," and may have a
temporal span of nearly one lifetime, since a young man may leave his

village and go to a small town where he will reside until he chooses to
move to a large city some years later. Third, migrants may move from

their villages to small towns and then their children make the final move
to the city. This last pa.ttern, which is really a generational extension

of the "stage migration" model, is certainly the most complex of the three
patterns distinguished here.

So far, we have discussed spatial patterns only in terms of the
flow of migrants from different origins to the city, wherein the several

zones of the city are subsumed into a single category. Now it is necessary
to distinguish some possible urban destinations. Although satisfactory

classification is not possible, either within a single city or over Latin
American cities as a type, perhaps three such destinations stand out:

(a) the old center of the city, usually composed of apartment-type dwellings
(such as the vecindades in Mexico City) with a predominance of lower and
lower-middle-class occupants; (b) the newly-developed suburban areas,
only recently "urbanized" in many cases, where single-family dwellings

predominate, but most families are saddled with high rents or long-term

payment plans; and (c) the squatter or invasion settlements (known vari-

ously as barriadas, favelas, callampas, villas miserias, and ciudades per-
didas), usually located on the extreme urban fringe, without regular urban
services and generally composed of single-family dwellings to which the
occupants establish "title."

Whatever the migrant's destination within the city, often an

important factor is the location of previously arrived comrades from his

village or region (see Herrick 1968:91). While the historical "enclaves"
of Indians and peasants within the Latin American city seem to have dis-
appeared in the face of housing shortages and intense population growth

(Caplow 1952:259), recent research indicates that the majority of present-
day migrants initially find housing in the old center of the city, often

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living with friends or relatives until more permanent situations can be
found. After a time they may join an invasion group and move into a

squatter settlement (Mangin 1967:passim). Often, the quality of life is
improved after such a move, especially if the migrant becomes the owner

of his dwelling, so that money formerly used for rent can be appropriated
to other needs.

Most anthropological studies of the Latin American city have

focused upon dwellers in central-city vecindades (see, for example, Lewis
1959) or in squatter settlements (see, for example, Matos Mar 1961).

Therefore, we still know little about the "middle class" city dwellers,
whether natives or migrants. More effort must be devoted to the study

of suburban, middle-class housing developments, which are growing almost

as rapidly as slums within Latin American urban centers. As some members
of the lower classes who have been the traditional object of our research
move up the social ladder, perhaps we shall have the opportunity to expand
the focus of our urban anthropology.

The temporal aspects of cityward migration are directly related

to its spatial characteristics. The following patterns have been observed
for Latin America: (1) steadily increasing streams of migrants (Butter-
worth 1962:261); (2) migrations in distinct waves or periods (Lewis 1952:
33); and (3) a generational "fill-in" model (McGreevey 1968:216; Herrick
1965:53). However, these are not all of the same quality; the first and
second describe the generalized migratory stream, either from a specified
source (e.g., a village) or toward a specified target (generally, the

largest metropolitan area), whereas the third also described a particu-

larly complex type of migrational movement applicable to the family unit.

Usually, increasing streams of migrants respond to ever-worsening
rural conditions, linked to urban attractions. On the other hand, peri-
odic migration is due to variable conditions, such as revolution, rural
violence, random crop failures, or droughts. Within an overall pattern
of increasing streams or waves of migrants it is possible to record the
phenomenon known as "fill-in" migration.

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As a complex type of "stage migration," "fill-in" migration is
significant for two reasons.   First, at its ultimate, the man who left
the village for the small town does not reach the metropolis, but his

children do. Second, the model requires that those persons who settle

into the intermediate centers push out other persons, usually members of
the upper classes, who then move on to the city. Thus, social mobility

is built into the "fill-in" model of migration. A rural family begins at

the bottom of the socioeconomic structure of the small town but eventually
improve their position. As they move up, they crowd others up and out;

at the same time, new migrants arrive to fill-in at the bottom rungs once
again. Thus the process continually affects the lives of a series of

migrant families, rather than just a single person. This "fill-in" model

of migration is particularly important since it helps to explain how rural
migrants are able to measure up (through "pre-adaptation" in the inter-
mediate centers) to the urban natives in level of education and occupa-

tional mobility. Peattie has recorded one informant's view of the "fill-
in" process in personal terms:

"Now," he said, " in Upata, Guasipati, in Turemo [all small

towns], there are almost no men." He did not mean, of course, that
these towns have become depopulated in a literal sense; they have

not. But the gente buena have left them, and their places have been
taken by gente cualquiera from the countryside. Members of the old
elite, their economic base shaken by the opening up of the region,
have had to move to Ciudad Guayana, to Ciudad Bolivar, to Caracas,
to try to establish themselves in the new order. (1968: 26).

In addition to these elements of temporal migration, there are
two further temporal aspects to rural-urban migration that deserve men-
tion. First, researchers have often observed that migrants make visits
to the city prior to permanent relocation (Herrick 1965:90; Butterworth
1962:262). An initial visit may be viewed as a "trial" to ascertain if
future success is likely. Of course, such visits tend to be made to

friends or relatives, although a single male migrant (or, more rarely,
a husband alone) may attempt a short time in the city without any ties
at all.

6

Finally, we may ask: At what point in time does a rural migrant,
l-iving in an urban area, cease to qualify as a "migrant"? This serious

matter is usually resolved by choosing a sample of "recent" migrants. To
further complicate the problem, most government censuses classify as

"imigrant" anyone born outside the place of current residence. Thus, a

child brought to the city by his parents would be reported as a migrant
based on place of birth.  Clearly, any classification of migrants ought
to consider this problem, especially in those cases where all ties with
the home village have been severed or lost.

The demographic aspects of migration are perhaps more well-

known than its spatial and temporal aspects. First, it is apparent that
migration to Latin American cities is not "random"; rather, it is "se-
lective" of certain age and sex groups within the total population.

Second, rural-urban migration continues to serve as a major factor in
the rapid growth of the urban population in Latin America. Although

such large-scale indicators are useful, as anthropologists we are more
concerned with the individual migrant and his family, which usually is
the focus of our research in the city.

Peattie reports that in a small barrio composed of recent mi-
grants to Ciudad Guayana, there were

. . .'490 inhabitants, living in eighty household groups. Of the

490, 123 were under seven years of age, and another 106 under thir-
teen. Children under thirteen thus comprised nearly half the
population. Teenagers (thirteen to eighteen inclusive) were

another 13 per cent. Persons over fifty were only 6 per cent of
the total -- and even so, a higher proportion than for the city
as a whole. The sex ratio was about balanced at all age levels.
(1968:13)

For Colombia, McGreevey reports that ". . . the great majority
of migrants belong to the 15-34 age group, are more often women than men,

and have higher levels of education and literacy than those persons living
in either the area of destination or the area of departure" (1968:218).
For Chile, Herrick indicates that

Among the most recent migrants -- those with fewer than ten

years of residence in Greater Santiago -- about two-fifths of those

7

over fourteen years of age were between fifteen and twenty-four.

Almost one-third arrived during their late teen years. More than
six out of ten were present in Santiago before their twenty-sixth
birthday. The youth of the migrants is thus clearly demonstrated.
(1965:73)

However, in this area of rural urban differences, Hammel pro-
vides us with an appropriate and necessary caution:

Slums;differ from whole cities (and inferentially from non-
slum urban areas) in their greater rate of fertility, a lack of

elderly females, occasional departure from the general excess of

females in Latin American cities, and a probably higher frequency
of consentual unions. Women in slums tend to marry earlier and

more frequently than women in non-slum urban areas. Rural villages

differ from the slums in having older populations and show a deficit
of individuals in the 20-24 age group, many of these individuals

having migrated to the slum, where they are found in excess. (1964:
356)

We may summarize the discussion on the spatial, temporal, and

demographic patterns of migration in the following manner: (1) Migration

may either be rural-urban directly, village-small town-large city in stages,
or village-small town-large city in generational "fill-in" waves; (2)

Migrants may move into the downtown districts of the city, into suburban
middle class housing developments, or into squatter settlements; (3)

Migration may occur in steadily increasing streams from village to city,

it may follow a wave or periodic pattern, or it may in turn fit the "fill-
in" model; (4) Migrants tend to be young, although we have little data on
their marital status at the time of migration; and, (5) Migrants tend to
be women more often than men, although this may vary from country to
country and from non-slum to slum area within a particular city.

C. CAUSES OF MIGRATION

At the simplest level, hypotheses about the causes of cityward
migration are generally dichotomized according to whether the rural per-
son is leaving the countryside or is going to the city. That is, the

''push" pressure of rural poverty and population growth forces the peasant
from his homeland. Or, on the other hand, the "pull" of more attractive
urban opportunities, broadly defined, entices the peasant to the city.

8

However, very rarely is it possible to so easily divide the "real" factors
behind migration into opposed facets, such as "push-pull" analyses would
attempt to do.

The use of such analysis often results in an implicit or explicit
motivation for migration. Thus, for Mexico, Lewis claims that

The increasing concentration of people in the large cities is

due more to the growing population pressure on the land than to the
attractions of urban life. . . . To the rural migrants the city

offers the hope of better employment opportunities, better educa-
tional facilities, greater material conveniences, and a generally
higher standard of living. (1960:288-289)

For Venezuela, Peattie concludes that "People left the farms
because it is more attractive to live in hope in the cities than in

penury on the land. The jobs have to pay off in that context" (1968:142).

For Peru, Matos Mar finds that "The economic reasons are the most important
and arise, largely, from regional differences" (1961:183). What is inter-
esting about these examples is that they tend to focus on direct rural-

urban migration rather than "stage" or "fill-in" patterns. A consideration
of inter-urban migration in such "economic" terms is much more complex,

of course, but the importance of economic factors still has been seen as
paramount (Germani 1961:212).

It is likely that a study of the socio-psychological causes of

migration may eventually re-orient researchers away from the dominance of

"economic" explanations (Kahl 1968; Germani 1965; and Margulis 1968). For
example, Margulis argues that not mere lack of work, but rather a devalua-
tion of the traditional community way of life joined to an idealization of

the city, leads to an exodus of the most dynamic and productive people from
the countryside. Furthermore, he suggests that "migration is a social
decision that permits the conservation of traditional elements and the

maintenance of unaltered economic and power relations within the region."
Thus, "migration is, for the region studied [La Rioja, Argentina], a de-
fense mechanism, an institutionalized standard of divergent conduct that
tends to conserve the traditional structure of the community." Finally,

9

Margulis borrows Foster's "image of limited good" to argue that certain
socio-psychological types who want to "get ahead" in a static rural
situation feel a necessity for migration to the cities.

We may summarize this discussion of the causes of migration

by noting the rather unsatisfactory picture which emerges from a survey
of the literature. The attention of researchers has often been focused
on the most obvious factors, with little effort expended to deal with
possible socio-psychological variables in the migrants' behavior. The
study of migrant personality is still not well-advanced, but future

studies in this area of urban anthropology ought to prove particularly
fruitful.

D. THE "IDEAL-TYPE" MIGRANT

If we may create an "ideal-type" migrant for Latin America,

without doing an injustice to available data, it is possible to distin-

guish two very different "schools" or attitudes toward migrants. On the

one hand, there are those who judge migrants as ill-prepared for city life.
Thus, for example, Cline considers most migrants to Mexican cities

unskilled, low-paid labourers who have difficulty in finding steady
employment" (1963:105). On the other hand, McGreevey claims that migrants
in Colombia are "generally the elite of a population which already has
an urban orientation in their city of birth, and do not represent the
large mass of the rural population in Colombia" (1968:217).

How can we account for these very different attitudes toward

migrants? Whereas one view correlates ill-preparedness with direct rural-
urban migration, with the migration of "Indians" rather than mestizo

peasants, and with low levels of education in the countryside, the latter
view correlates a high level of preparedness with inter-urban migration,
with the migration of the "elite" groups from the small towns to the

cities, and with high levels of education and literacy in these small

towns. Thus, the view which one has about the "ideal-type" migrant is
related to one's ideas on the pre-adaptation of migrants to city life.

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Peattie has put the case well for those who argue that migrants tend to
be well-prepared to live in urban areas:

In Venezuela urbanization is not something which is happening
only in the cities. Roads, radios, newspapers, schools, imported

goods, have penetrated the countryside. . . . These communications,
added to a "traditional," rural way of life already loose in social
structure and intellectually oriented toward the practical and ma-

terial, mean that those who now come to the city come in some sense
pre-adapted to urban life. One observer has called them a "proto-
proletariat."

This means that. . . one does not see the kind of transition
which anthropologists report for some other countries undergoing

the first stages of modernization -- the jump in stage which happens
when the tribesman, the blanket Indian, the peasant, move to town.

The people who come into the cities of Venezuela are not wholly raw
recruits; they have already put on the uniform of urban life. And,

as every army knows, the uniform makes a difference. (1968: 118-119)

Furthermore, it appears that the "ideal-type" migrant of the

United States has been transferred inappropriately to the case of Latin

America. Since the study of migrants in the United States has tradition-
ally been focused on the lower classes and minority groups, it might have
seemed reasonable to make such extensions of theory. However, recent

research has effectively challenged many of the "similarities" previously
thought to exist between migration patterns in the United States (or any
other industrially developed nations) and Latin America. For example,

Bock and Iutaka have recently examined occupational and social mobility

for Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Their findings lead them to "question

the degree to which explanations derived from studies of migration in in-
dustrial nations are applicable to 'developing nations"' (1969:343). As

more research is done on the Latin American migrant, perhaps a more satis-
fying picture of the "ideal-type(s)" can be generated; however, the con-

troversy is not resolved and will only be so when more comparative analyses
such as that of Bock and Iutaka are performed.

E. PROBLEMS OF ADJUSTMENT

Rather than attempt a comprehensive survey of migrant adjustment
in the Latin American city, I shall limit the discussion to four aspects

11

which have aroused considerable interest among scholars interested in
urbanization and migration: (1) the changes in family structure among

migrants; (2) the "culture of poverty" concept; (3) the role of squatter
settlements for migrant adjustment; and (4) the adjustment in personality,
world view, or cognitive orientation among migrants. Not all these topics
are of the same order of importance nor do they represent the same levels
of analysis; nevertheless, a better understanding of these four facets

of migrant adjustment ought to provide us a minimum comprehension of the
general problems.

Changes in family structure represent a potentially crucial arena
for migrant adjustment in Latin American cities. The traditional view
is indicated by Kahl:

The urban family tends to be nuclear; women have considerable
independence and there is a trend toward sexual "equality"; young

people have considerable freedom to move about the city, make friends,
seek their own careers and wives. Now, where the rural family pat-
terns are at variance with these urban forms, there will be culture
shock and strain when people first move to the city and until they

have had time not only to break loose from the old forms but to "in-
stitutionalize the new ones." (1959:68)

Kahl's statement has perhaps more significance for Asia and

Africa than for Latin America, where the nuclear family predominates in

both rural and urban regions, although the extended family also may play
an important role at times (cf. Wilkening et al. 1968). In this light,
Lewis has suggested that

we must distinguish much more carefully between the existence
of the extended family as a residence unit and as a social group.

In Mexico the extended family is important as a social group in both
rural and urban areas where the nuclear family predominates as the

residence unit. In Mexico the persistence of extended family bonds
seems compatible with urban life and increased industrialization.

Moreover, the compadre system, with its extension of adoptive kin-
ship ties, is operative, though in somewhat distinctive ways, on
all class levels.(1965:499)

Additional case studies can be cited to show that in Latin

America family structure poses few adjustment problems for migrants to

the cities. For a Rio de Janeiro favela, Pearse reports that "The nuclear

12

or conjugal family was the usual household unit. That is to say, most

households (i.e., 185 out df 279) consisted of father, mother, and chil-
dren of one or both, or adopted children, only" (1961:196). For Lima,
Matos Mar indicates that the family remains essentially stable despite
"serious conflicts which are reflected in mental, social, and economic

maladjustment" (1961:174). He found that the families of the barriadas
under study could be classified as follows:

families in the narrow sense (parents and children), 62 per
cent; families in the broad sense (families in the narrow sense
plus other relatives), 26 per cent; mixed families (father or

mother and children, plus other relatives), 5 per cent; couples,

3 per cent; single persons, 2 per cent. This indicates the pre-
ponderance of the family in the narrow sense as the basic social

unit providing security for the inhabitants of the barriadas. (1961:
181)

Finally, for Ciudad Guayana, as represented in Peattie's study
of the barrio La LaJa, the nuclear family structure is prevalent, espe-
cially with matrifocality. In addition,

. . . relations based on kinship or assimilated with kinship are

dominant in the social network. People are likely to have relatives
living nearby. In this barrio, to which nearly half the adults have
migrated within the last five years, two-thirds of the households
are connected by kinship with at least one other household in the
barrio. (1968:40)

It may be added here that the institution of compadrazgo seems

to provide another vehicle for lessening adjustment problems for families
who move to the cities in Latin America. Unfortunately, we still have

few adequate studies of its overall function in the urban system. Among

others, Pearse (1961:199), Lewis (1952:38), and Peattie (1968:41) have so
far reported on its importance in the city, especially for migrants.

A discussion of the "culture of poverty" concept follows appro-
priately after a consideration of family structure among migrants, since
Lewis's methodological approach stressed the study of family units.
According to Lewis, the "culture of poverty" is a

provincial, locally oriented culture, both in the city and in the

country.  In Mexico it is characterized by a relatively higher death
rate, a higher propor.Lion of the population in the younger age groups

13

(less than fifteen years), a higher proportion of gainfully employed

in the total population, including child labor and working women. . . .
on another level the "culture of poverty" in Mexico, cutting across

the rural and urban, is characterized by the absence of food reserves
in the home, the pattern of frequent buying of small quantities of

food many times a day as the need occurs, borrowing money from money
lenders at usurious interest rates, the pawning of goods, spontaneous
informal credit devices among neighbors, the use of second-hand clo-
thing and furniture. . . a higher incidence of free unions or con-
sentual marriages, a strong present-time orientation, and a higher
proportion of pre-Hispanic folk beliefs and practices. (1965:500)

Not all migrants are equally susceptible to the "culture of

poverty." Lewis believes that the "Landless rural workers who migrate
to the cities, as in Latin America, can be expected to fall into this

way of life more readily than migrants from stable peasant villages with
a well-organized traditional culture, as in India" (1966:24). Thus, he
seems to mean his model for use among the ill-prepared, rural poor, who
tend to migrate directly to the larger cities in Latin America. Aside

from methodological critiques (see Paddock 1961), Lewis has become a tar-

get for those who argue that the "culture of poverty" concept is not appli-
cable to the analysis of recently-established squatter settlements

(Mangin 1967:91). However, only more research will satisfactorily re-
solve this controversy.

Squatter settlements, above all, do not represent a "last resort"
for the urban migrant. In Mangin's words, the inhabitants of recent
squatter settlements "are not alienated, hopeless people caught in a

vicious circle of poverty. For most of the adults their condition in the
squatter settlement is the best of their lives and a marked improvement

on their previous two or three houses" (1967:91). In fact, the majority
of invasiones are made in order to attain a plot of land on which one's

own home, free of rent, can be constructed. For example, Matos Mar indi-
cates that the scarcity of low-cost housing in Lima has given a great
impetus to the growth of the barriadas (1961:190). Finally, it is in
these squatter settlements that the highest prevalence of voluntary

associations (outside of the upper classes) are found. Such associations,

14

normally established prior to an invasion and continued throughout the
life of a settlement, serve to unite its people against the sometimes

burdensome problems of the city -- e.g., dealing with the police, water

carriers, city officials, or hoodlums.  Whereas barriada associations are
fairly common, voluntary associations are not common in most rural areas

and in the central city slums (vecindades) where Lewis developed his "cul-
ture of poverty" concept (see Turner 1963; Mangin 1963; for contrast,
see Lewis 1959).

It remains to discuss the socio-psychological adjustments of

migrants in the Latin American city. It is important to realize that most
researchers tend to accept a dichotomy between "rural" and "urban" per-
sonality types. For example, Medina Echavarria and Hauser state:

The psycho-social aspect of urban culture manifests itself in
a new type of personality, that is, in a class of human being with

a special attitude towards the world and his relations with the rest
of mankind. The contrast between the rural and urban mentality is
the source of virtually all the difficulties attendant upon the

urbanization process, especially when this takes place too rapidly.
(1961:25)

Peattie has also described the urban personality:

Their cognitive orientation is toward the modern world of mass-
produced consumption goods, and toward the world of personal rela-
tions giving them access to it. . . . Finally, there is a general

readiness to accept change. . . especially those involving a widening
of intellectual and economic horizons. . . . (1968:39, 104)

However, despite a readiness to accept change, migrants to the
city often find themselves "powerless" before the urban system. Such

''powerlessness" may be reflected in a view of society which seems "closed"
to them in important respects. For example, Pearse's study of migrants
to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro revealed that the migrant's

pastimes and his religious practices reflect his concern with his

powerlessness greatly to improve or even secure his lot by his own
and his family's endeavours and his habitual hope for intervention
and protection of a good patrao, a political leader or a strong

saint. At the same time, though he as yet has not come to see city
society as an open one where achievement and talent rather than
privilege and position bring advancement, yet he finds great

15

satisfaction in "play-systems" in which the individual's skills
and strength bring success and where good luck may fall to any,
regardless of his condition.   (1961:204)

In a similar manner, Peattie records the orientation of a
Seflor Figueres to the urban world about him:

Senlor Figueres sees himself as subject to circumstance, as

compelled by forces to which one may maneuver to adjust, but which
one can hardly hope to change. "One should not be lazy" is the
moral of one of his tales -- but the moral of another is that,

"after all, luck determines." He sees man as trying to defenderse
(to defend himself) and to conformarse (to.adjust).   He sees man

as trying to keep afloat with dignity in a world he never made and
cannot hope to remake. The sense of being able to dominate circum-
stances, which is the psychological basis of saving for future ob-
jectives, of spending time and money for education, of a rational

calculus in which present satisfactions are weighed against possible
increments of future situational advantage -- this Sen'or Figueres'
world lacks. (1968:104)

What does such a view of urban society mean for the adjustment
of migrants? Simply this: they may manage to adjust to a subordinate
position in the urban society, although a position superior to that in
which they suffered in the countryside, without necessarily achieving

the desired occupational and social mobility. Their aspirations, espe-
cially for their children's education, are often beyond their means --
but, of course, this applies equally to many middle class natives (as
well as migrants) who struggle against inflation and increasing wants.
Certainly, some migrants (particularly those who come in stages to the
metropolis) have less socio-psychological adjustments to make to city

life than those who come directly from countryside to city. Finally, the
differential penetration of urban "culture" into the hinterland has an
important effect on such adjustment.

We may summarize this discussion of the various adjustment prob-
lems of migrants in the following terms: (1) There appears to be little
change in family structure or in the overall importance of kinship re-
lations after cityward migration; (2) The concept of the "culture of

poverty" seems most appropriate for the adjustment problems of ill-pre-
pared, lower class migrants who have come directly to the city from the

16

village. Also, it seems to fit the situation in older central-city slums
better than that in more recently established squatter settlements; (3)
Squatter settlements seem to help, rather than hinder, the positive ad-

justment of migrants (usually in the second phase of migration, since the
harriada is seldom their first destination within the urban region) to
city life, especially through the formation of voluntary associations,

not so widespread in slums. People living in squatter settlements tend

not to be alienated and hopeless, and probably view the society as rela-

tively more "open" than those persons who continue living in central-city
vecindades; and, (4) The personality type and the cognitive orientation
*of rural migrants in the cities often undergoes some modification, which
usually positively aids in adjustment. The sense of powerlessness felt
by many migrants probably fades with the second generation in the city.
Finally, the whole idea of a dichotomy between "rural" and "urban" per-

sonality types may be more appropriately viewed in terms of the differences
in personality of the "power-holding group" (however defined in a parti-
cular situation) versus the "powerless or inferior" sectors of the same
society. In other words, to quote the Shannons, "If the migrant does

possess attitudes that inhibit assimilation -- facilitating responses it

is just as likely that these are not rural attitudes, but attitudes acquired
in the process of interacting in a situation where he has been defined as
inferior" (1968:63).

Finally, it is clear that no single model of adjustment dominates
the field in the study of urbanization in Latin America. In fact, the
paucity of adequate case studies will prevent the construction of any

satisfactory models for some time to come. Additional research into the
psychological adjustments and adaptations of rural-urban versus inter-

urban migrants would be especially valuable, although all aspects of the

migrant adjustment within the Latin American city require intensive study.

17

F. PROCESS OF MOBILITY

Satisfactory adjustment to urban life is not necessarily accom-
panied by social and occupational mobility for the migrant. However, in
many case studies there is an assumption that geographic movement brings
automatic vertical mobility. Certainly, migration represents the move-
ment of a part of the labor force, but movement should itot be confused
with upward mobility.

Since the interest in migrant occupational mobility is related
to the belief that migration responds to various "economic" factors, it
is not surprising that many researchers concentrate on the following

problems: the job hunt; the type of employment acquired by recent mi-

grants; length of employment; level of advancement in the work situation;
and satisfaction of migrant expectations in the search for a "better" job.
Without considering each of these facets of the problem in detail, we can
consider the general Latin American pattern.

First, one's concept of the type of migrant in part determines
one's views on the participation of migrants in the urban job market.
Herrick puts it well:

As with education, the migrants' rates of participation in the
labor force might be hypothesized to be either higher-or lower than
the natives' rates. Higher, if it is thought that migrants as a
whole are somehow more energetic and spirited than the natives;

lower, if the migrants are thought to be lazier or more easily dis-
couraged by the complexities of city life. (1965:80-81)

Herrick found in his study of recent migrants in Santiago that
"Taken as an aggregate, the migrant's participation rate was higher, by
a statistically significant margin, than that of the natives" (1965:81).
Furthermore, he discovered that

Of the economically active recent migrants surveyed, about four-

fifths were active members of the labor force immediately upon arrival.
The others students, housewives, or other inactives who only later
entered the labor force. Of the four-fifths who sought employment

upon arrival in Santiago, 40.6% found employment. . . either on the
day they arrived or on the following day. (1965:92)

18

For direct rural-urban migrants, employment is probably not so

immediate nor the job search so successful. For example, Germani's study
of migrants to Buenos Aires revealed that "Less than 50 per cent of the
migrants worked throughout the year; a third of them were able to work
only six months or less" (1961:221).   However, he found that after a

period of time in the city, such lower class migrants tend to have more
success in finding and holding jobs, and thus catch up to the native-
born workers and to the better-prepared "elite" inter-urban migrants.

A further case is provided by Peattie's study of an industrial workers'
barrio in Ciudad Guayana:

. . . of its 490 residents, living in eighty household groups, there
were only eighty-one persons employed. This was partly because the
barrio had so many children and young people that fully work-age

adults (aged nineteen to fifty) were only 34 per cent of the popu-
lation. And of these, many were unemployed. Of the grown males

between nineteen and sixty years of age, over a third reported them-
selves unemployed, with the rate of unemployment highest (about 40
per cent) among the young men of nineteen to thirty and those in
their fifties. (1968:35)

We may conclude this discussion of occupational mobility with
the observation that mobility occurs more frequently among migrants pre-

pared to take advantage of urban opportunities in the labor market. Lower
class migrants often find the city just as uncongenial (in terms of rela-
tive success) in the search for a "good" job as was the countryside they
departed. Usually, lower class migrants (and natives of the lower class

as well) tend to find their way into the tertiary sector as street vendors
and odd-jobbers, whereas the "elite" migrants move into industry and busi-
ness, often with membership in trade unions and government health programs.

It is a curious feature of the literature on urbanization in

Latin America that "social" mobility is seldom discussed apart from occu-
pational mobility. In other words, movement upward on the occupational

scale is seen as the most important dimension of social mobility. Migrants
are often described in terms of their "class" (broadly defined in economic
terms), but seldom according to "status" or their differential to "power."

19

I would guess that many lower class migrants actually suffer a decline in
their relative status because their involvement in traditional village
status systems, such as the civil-religious hierarchy, is not generally
replaced with an equivalent system in the city. Similarly, "elite" mi-

grants who abandon a disintegrating economic-prestige system in the small
towns or haciendas may also feel'a decline in relative status when they

become members of the urban middle class. In another sense, they may fall
from what Adams has called the "power-prestige sector" into the "work-
wealth sector" (1965:266).

Peattie has attempted to briefly describe what she feels are

four "stages" of mobility -- both social and occupational -- which might
be useful as a guide to research on this aspect of Latin American urban-
ization:

In the first stage migrants. . . have already passed the level
at-which people are directing their efforts toward the satisfaction
of traditional wants through traditional skills exercised through

a traditional manner of organizing the self individually and inter-
personally.

The second stage would be that in which the fountain pen appears
in the illiterate's pocket, and the transistor radio in the Indian's
hand. People learn to have new wants, and they look for cash income
to satisfy them; but they try to satisfy these wants through the

manipulation of traditional skills, or these skills relatively little
modified.

In the third stage people begin to focus on the exercise of skills
as a way of coping.   The child says "I'd like to be a doctor."   The
parent says, "I want my son to go through school and get educated."

The satisfaction of the new wants begins to be thought of as an aspect
of "being" another sort of person, with a different bundle of skills.

There seems to be a fourth stage in the mobility process: a new
stage in which the individual sees himself not only as satisfying the
new wants through new skills, but as acquiring the new skills through
a sort of shaping of the self. (1968:119-120)

I would conclude this section on the process of mobility among
urban migrants by suggesting that Peattie's formulation tells us more
about the future than about the past. The study of second-generation

migrants is not well-advanced; it may provide us with either a substan-

tiation or a rejection of current ideas about social and occupational mo-
bility in Latin American cities (for an example of the type of needed re-
search, see Balan et al. 1967).

20

G. FULFILLMENT OF EXPECTATIONS

Usually, migrants are not deluded about their occupational pros-
pects in the city, whether they be "elite" or lower class. Given a
realistic appraisal of their own situation, they probably meet with

success at that level, although "middle-class" aspirations for a "higher
standard of living, home ownership, and education for their children"
(Lewis 1965:496) are being spread by mass communications (in earlier

years by radio, more recently by television) even to the dwellers in the
vecindades. The importance of education for one's children seems to be
a paramount concern of all migrants, just as it is with native-born ur-

banites, despite the frequent overcrowding of city schools. With respect
to social and ceremonial activities, most migrants are probably disap-

pointed in what the city offers; they often make return visits to their

villages for fiestas and the major religious events of the year. Finally,
migrants at all levels are witness to housing shortages and high rents

which cause both dissatisfaction and the continued erection of more squatter
settlements on the urban fringes. Unfortunately, the future seems to hold
little promise that either private enterprise or government will be able

to alleviate or solve the housing problem; they seem to be falling behind
the population growth rate even now.

But no matter what other expectations remain unfulfilled for
cityward migrants, they soon come to participate actively in the "new

world of consumption" which the city offers to its citizens. In Bonilla's
words:

The cityts hold over consumption in Latin America is almost as
complete as its monopoly of learning, and though the worker's share
in this consumption may remain marginal, the desire for it is an
explicit goal of migration to the city. (1964:192)

CONCLUSIONS

An important consequence of our survey of the literature on

migration to the Latin American city is the discovery of a wide divergence
of professional opinion on the following topics: causes of migration;

21

the model of an "ideal-type" migrant; the nature of migrant adjustment
problems in the city; the relationship of migration to occupational and
social mobility; and the variable fulfillment of migrant expectations

and aspirations. Unfortunately, the fragmentary knowledge of some basic
aspects of cityward migration does not enable us to resolve many of the

current controversies. Only further detailed research which combines case
studies with comparative analysis will provide better answers to the ul-
timate question: What is the significance of rural-urban and inter-
urban migration for the modernization of Latin America?

We began this paper by noting that anthropologists have in-

creasingly turned their attention to the study of the modernization pro-

cess in traditional societies and "developing" countries. If part of the
future of our discipline lies in the city, we have our work cut out for
us. We must become increasingly sensitized to developments outside of

anthropology merely to stay abreast of on-going research. Finally, urban
anthropology will test the mettle of the "traditional" scheme for field
work; the city is neither tribe nor peasant village, where the anthro-
pologist can easily establish face-to-face contact with his informants
on a basis of mutual confidence. It would be sad, indeed, to see the

anthropologist's "informants" converted into "subjects" or "respondents"
within the arena of urban research. Hopefully, training in the methods

needed for urban field work, combined with our "traditional" methods and
techniques, will alleviate some of our present difficulties, but such

training is seldom available at present.   Thus, the future of anthropology
in the Latin American city is a mixed prospect; many important research
problems exist which we ought to study in order to extend the boundaries
of our current theories about man and society, but we must be patient as
we struggle in the new environment of urban field work.

22

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25