Migration and migration processes in theoretical and methodological context: methods and theories of definition and approaches to research

Abstract

The article is devoted to analyzing theoretical, methodological and conceptual parameters of migration issues and migration processes. To do this, the author has considered and systematized the methods and theories of definition and approaches to the study of migration and migration processes. In particular, such approaches to the definition and study of migration as economic, geographical, demographic, philosophical, sociological, psychological, systemic, institutional, as well as synthetic have been emphasized. At the same time, it has been stated that each of the approaches is also traditionally different in definition and methods of the migration study, and therefore they all have been necessarily delineated, analyzed, structured and systematized. It has been shown how theoretical and methodological approaches are correlated with the empirical practice of migration in European countries. The author has summed up that due to the combination of theory and empirical practice, in particular on the example of European countries, each author, using the term “migration”, puts different interpretations into it, using as a guide many different existing categories.