RURAL COMMUNITY DIFFERENTIATION AND THE RATE OF RURAL--URBAN MIGRATION IN CHILE.

This article describes a theoretical framework for considering rural-urban migration and reports on some findings from a 1966 household survey of seven communities located in a small region of Chile. The basic hypothesis was that the rate of rural-urban migration from each community of a rural region varies positively with its level of differentiation. Differentiation was defined as the degree to which a community is institutionally coupled to the national society. The data from migration histories of persons exposed, between the ages of 12 and 29 over a ten-year period, to the possibility of migration from the survey communities tended to support the hypothesis, particularly when rural-urban moves were made for employment. The evidence was less consistent when moves were made for education. As expected from the theoretical framework, a significant deviation of the rural-urban migration rate from that predicted seems to be accounted for by the variable per capita economic opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]