Postwar migration expanded in phases bounded by the 1973 oil crisis

Evidence

After World War II, international migration expanded in volume and geographical scope. More and more countries were affected by migration, while the diversity of migrants increased, so most immigration countries received entrants from a broad spectrum of economic, social, and cultural backgrounds. Two main phases can be distinguished. The first lasted from 1945 to 1973: the long boom stimulated large-scale labor migration to Western Europe, North America, and Oceania from less-developed areas. This phase ended around 1973, with the “oil crisis,” which triggered a major recession. In a second phase from the mid-1970s, capital investment shifted away from the old centers, and transnational forms of production and distribution reshaped the world economy. Migratory flows at first declined and were partly reversed, then grew again. The older industrial countries experienced new types of inflows, while new immigration countries emerged in Southern Europe, the Gulf oil countries, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a period of unprecedented migration. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3860

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides the standard periodization framework for postwar international migration (1945-73 boom phase, 1973 oil-crisis cutoff, then diversification).
• XREF: connects to: The 1927 flood displaced half a million people and forced enduring migration — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 135; Twentieth century divides into three eras of forced-migration norms — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 1120; Postwar Western Europe shifted from emigration to mass destination of immigration. — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 41