Recent trends in spatial mobility of the population in the State of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article addresses dissatisfaction with explanations of migrations that, although they have provided important contributions, nonetheless sound somewhat incomplete. The article proposes a discussion on changes in behavior taking place in demographic displacements in Brazil since the 1980s, especially in terms of the migratory processes in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (of which the city of Rio de Janeiro is the capital). The state is both an area of attraction and of expulsion of population. The author sees demography as a field of knowledge that, in essence, implies the idea of processes of change that reflect the social relationships inscribed during each historical moment The article is thus based on the hypothesis that processes of (im)mobility of the labor force could explain the current model of capitalistic development. In terms of the model of flexible accumulation, the present stage of development seems to be determining new strategies for locating productive activities, new modes for regulating relationships of capital, as well as changes in the structures of occupational categories. In the final countdown, these factors are dictating a new mode for capital to mobilize the labor force.