Abstract

Migration has been a persistent and defining feature of Indian society shaping its demographic composition economic organization and social structure across historical periods. In contemporary India internal and international migration have intensified due to factors such as uneven regional development industrialization urbanization globalization agrarian distress and the expansion of the service economy. Migration is not merely a spatial movement of people it is a complex social process that reconfigures caste relations class hierarchies gender roles family structures and community networks both at the place of origin and destination. This research paper examines the relationship between migration and social structure in India focusing on how different forms of migration—rural–urban urban–urban seasonal circular and international—interact with traditional and modern social institutions. The study highlights that migration simultaneously acts as a force of social mobility and social di