Migration, differentiation and the development cycle in Lesotho

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Periodical article

Title:	Migration, differentiation and the development cycle in Lesotho
Author:	Murray, Colin
Year:	1978
Periodical:	African Perspectives
Issue:	1
Pages:	127-143
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Lesotho
Subjects:	labour migration income distribution
Abstract:	It is taken for granted that there is a 'remarkably equitable' distribution of income in Lesotho. This is attributed both to a relatively even distribution of productive assets and to the fact that most rural households depend on the export of labour to South Africa. This view is expressed in a variety of more specific propositions which are officially endorsed in the Second Five Year Development and so influence the making of policy. These propositions (mentioned in the introduction) are misleading, 1. Because they distort the understanding of the patterns of differentiation that it is possible to identity, 2. because they misconceive the relationship between income which accrues from domestic sources and income derived from migrant earnings. The author proposes a more realistic perspective within which to understand the empirical evidence on rural household income distribution. Next be argues that the generalization of poverty does not preclude rural diffenrentiation. Increasing dependence on migrant labour tends to exacerbate rather than to inhibit the differentiation. Fig.; tables; ref.