Research Summary

My research focused on how people in a destination area, respond to migrants based on the reasoning of the migrant. I asked a total of 20 people around the Bay Area their views, by way of paper survey. My study had a few unique subsets based on age, and self identified gender. Each subset was critical to helping form the conclusions I drew from the survey. One of the most interesting things that my study revealed, is that most respondents, saw threats to safety as an overall much better reason than economics.
This bias can be seen throughout history, as  James N Gregory writes “Poor people crossing state lines would have a clear set of rights in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl migration.” Key to understanding the response towards Dust Bowl migrants was the fact, that they were not just poor but starving. Which begs the question if the impact of The Dust Bowl on American culture may have influenced the respondents of the survey. Considering that America is now 10 years removed from the start of its worst economic downturn since the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, an avenue of further study could focus on the experience of economic migrants of the  “The Great Recession.”