ABSTRACT
The next section describes the current Moroccan and European contexts in which migration takes place, as perceived by non-migrants in the four areas under study.
4. Ideas and perceptions of migration environments in four Moroccan regions
4.1. Insufficient changes at the local level
Over the last decade, people living in the four Moroccan regions under study perceived considerable improvements in the existing public services and infrastructures. However, positive changes were considered insufficient. Informants in all four areas shared similar negative
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enjoy. Finally, I keep to a broad definition of relative deprivation by taking into account other types of inequality beyond the economic dimension, namely access to social rights and job security. The information and ideas non-migrants receive about the changing migration environment can
therefore impact their feelings of relative deprivation and satisfaction. Changing feelings of relative deprivation and satisfaction can in turn change the meaning of migration at an individual level and therefore aspirations to migrate or to stay (Box 3, Figure 1). This paper conceptualises migration aspirations as a continuum between two extremes (Timmerman et al. 2010), with the preference of staying in the country of residence at one end, and the preference to migrate internationally at the opposite extreme (Carling 2014). Transformations in feelings of relative deprivation can also lead to changes in the general value
attributed to migration at the community level (Box 4, Figure 1). Drawing on existing literature we can hypothesise that over time, migration progressively gained a positive value in Morocco. In the context of his research conducted in the Souss-Massa-Draa region, Aït Hamza observed that before the 1960s, migration was mainly negatively perceived. It was related to those who needed to escape their village to avoid being held accountable for their debts or their crimes. According to him, it was only during the mid-1960s that perceptions of internal and international migration changed. Migration became more attractive when the traditional local environment changed due to several factors such as the monetisation of the economy, an increase of the population in a context of scarce economic resources and a decrease in livestock due to a worsening of the drought (Aït Hamza 1997). Migration also gained more positive value because it allowed people to improve their working conditions, to gain working rights and to improve their social status (Aït Hamza 2002). With changed ideas and information on migration environments, existing feelings of relative
deprivation and satisfaction can change in regions of origin. These can in turn affect migration aspirations at the individual level, as well as the value of migration at the community level, and thereby influence non-migrants’ migration decisions (Box 5, Figure 1). Decisions to migrate or to stay will then in turn produce new information and ideas on migration.
