The Role of Primary Social Groups in Migration Decision-Making: A Case Study of Chinese Students in Australia

Abstract

This article sought to analyze the role of primary social groups on the migration decision-making process of on-shore asylum seekers. Previous research on migration decision-making had been dominated by an individual-family-community analysis, and failed to consider the role of other social groups. This article is based on research on the Chinese students living in Australia at the time of the June 4, 1989 event in Beijing. Their experience was used to conceptualize the role of the migrants' primary social groups in migration decisions. The article addressed several themes of group-based migration decision-making and outlined the basic characteristics of the primary social group as a decision-making unit.