ABSTRACT
What are the factors that cause people to move? In particular, what has brought about the heavy exodus of Third World inhabitants from their traditional rural homeplaces? One simple and effective way of answering these questions is to pose them directly to the migrants themselves. Migration, like any other social act, is a function not only of objective social conditions but also of the individuals subjective interpretations of these conditions, along with his or her perceived options for dealing with them. As Berger and Kellner (1981, 40) have observed, careful attention should be paid to these subjective factors, insofar as social science concepts must always “retain an intelligible connection with the meaningful intentions of the actors in the situation."
