Rural migrant workers and social stratification in China

Author: Li Qiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: The two major themes listed in the title of this book, "Rural Migrant Workers" and "Social Stratification in Chinese Society," have been the primary research areas of the author for a long time. The author's research on social stratification began during their graduate studies at Renmin University of China. In the early 1980s, Renmin University did not yet have a sociology major, and the author's interest in sociology was largely cultivated through reading. At that time, there were very few Chinese-language editions of sociological works, with most being foreign books. In Beijing, the library with the most foreign books was the "Beijing Library" (now renamed the "National Library"). During graduate school, the author read a significant number of foreign books from the Beijing Library. Back then, the Beijing Library had not moved to its current location at Baishi Bridge; it was still located at the old North Beijing Library near the South Gate of Beihai Lake. Fortunately, the author obtained a foreign book borrowing card from the Beijing Library, and countless times, they traveled between their residence in Beicheng's Dixinju and the old North Beijing Library, borrowing a large number of books, many of which were sociological works. As a result, when writing their graduate thesis, the author focused on a very specific issue within social stratification, exploring the white-collar class in developed countries, also known as the middle class. At that time, the domestic term for this was still "intellectual workers." The author's interest in urban migrant workers is also a long story. From 1990 to 1991, they spent a year as a visiting scholar at the University of Bristol (Bristol) in the UK, funded by the China-UK Friendship Scholarship. During their studies, they encountered a vast amount of material on migration. In the summer of 1992, they also read many books on urban migration (urban migration) in the quiet library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. Since the early 1990s, the author has explored the issues of floating population, urbanization, and urban migrant workers both theoretically and empirically. This book is a collection of the author's research insights on urban migrant workers, urban floating population, and urbanization in China over the past decade. In this book, the author puts forward and attempts to validate the following viewpoints:
1. From the perspective of social stratification, urban migrant workers in China constitute a very special social group in the city. They reside, live, and work in the city for extended periods, but neither they nor society at large consider them to be part of the city. Instead, they are perceived as belonging to rural social groups. The vast majority of them occupy marginal positions in the city, hence the term "urban marginal people," and they have also become a distinct subculture within urban life. However, on the other hand, they differ fundamentally from farmers. They have been influenced by urban culture and have adopted many urban values and ideas, making it difficult for them to return to their original rural life.
2. The primary institutional reason for the special social stratification status of urban migrant workers lies in the household registration system. This book explores the origins of the household registration system in New China and argues that after its establishment, the system served two main social functions: maintaining the economic distribution and resource-sharing order after the revolution. After China attempted to break down class divisions, it needed to use a "non-ownership" screening mechanism to maintain economic order, and the household registration system was an effective "non-ownership" screening mechanism. Relying on household registration to prevent farmers from entering the city helped implement policies that favored urban industrial development and completed the initial accumulation of industrial development. The author believes that the household registration system is, at its core, an identity system. Of course, the identity system of contemporary China was not solely composed of the household registration system; it also included a complex and complementary set of identity systems. However, the household registration system was the core of this system. Since the reform, the social screening function of the household registration system has declined, and the function of economic ownership has shown a trend of return. Property rights, as a social screening mechanism and a screening mechanism for technical certificates, have challenged the power of household registration. Of course, in terms of property rights and technical certificates, migrant workers are still at a disadvantage, and they may still be at the bottom of the urban social stratification. However, with property rights and technical certificates as the dominant social screening mechanisms, the mechanisms and concepts of social fairness have undergone fundamental changes.
3. Under the influence of the household registration system, the traditional model of push and pull factors in population mobility has changed. The model of push and pull factors for Chinese migrant workers differs significantly from international models. Under the influence of the household registration system, both push and pull factors are distorted. Some push or pull factors may even become "functionally ineffective," meaning that although these factors still exist, they no longer have an effect, causing floating populations to no longer follow the general push-pull. To date, although China has introduced several important measures for household registration reform, the inertia of the existing system remains strong, and the phenomenon where household registration causes push and pull factors to become ineffective persists.
4. The author proposes that informal employment will be the primary form of employment for hundreds of millions of migrant workers entering China's cities. It is essential to fully recognize the positive social functions of informal employment. Informal employment provides vast living spaces for China's huge unemployed population, floating population, and surplus rural labor. Current management policies for informal employment should be changed, and some local practices of suppressing informal employment should be abandoned in favor of support and assistance. From the perspective of social fairness, this is also a necessary mechanism for coordinating the interests of various social strata. Fundamentally, the interests of all social strata should be protected, not just those of urban residents and formal employees.
5. There are bottom-up elites among migrant workers. If policies of overall exclusion are adopted toward them, it is unfair and detrimental to social stability.
6. Through empirical research, the author found that migrant workers are a group with highly frequent occupational mobility. However, frequent occupational mobility does not lead to an improvement in their occupational status. The author proposes an explanation of status accumulation, arguing that urban residents can achieve status accumulation through the archives system, while migrant workers cannot.
7. The author categorizes the family relationships of urban migrant workers into five basic models: single-child model, sibling model, separated-spouse model, separated-spouse-and-children model, and whole-family model. The author found that these family models, characterized by separation, conflict with traditional family theories and pose significant challenges to sociological research. The author explains this phenomenon.
8. The author confirms the high proportion of urban migrant workers sending money back to their hometowns. The author analyzes the reasons for this high proportion of remittances and its impact on China's modernization.
9. The author found that most urban migrant workers are in an unprotected state, frequently facing unemployment and illness. The author proposes a countermeasure of establishing three safety nets.
10. Through empirical research, the author identified conflicts and tensions between urban residents and migrant workers and discovered the dissatisfaction of migrant workers toward urban residents. The book analyzes the history of interactions between farmers and urban residents in China and proposes that in the coming decades, migrant workers and urban residents will be two major social groups coexisting and living together in China's cities. The author calls for enhanced communication, understanding, and cooperation between them to eliminate barriers, misunderstandings, and conflicts, thereby ensuring the long-term stable development of Chinese society.
11. The book studies the unfair treatment of urban migrant workers in China from the perspective of deprivation theory, focusing on the injustices they face in political, economic, and social rights. The author argues that absolute deprivation is still a widespread phenomenon at this stage and proposes the concept of multi-stage deprivation, suggesting that even as absolute deprivation decreases, relative deprivation will still emerge.
12. The book demonstrates that urban floating populations can be divided into two major groups, whose composition and needs differ significantly. Therefore, in household registration reform, it is essential to analyze the actual benefits the household registration system brings to different groups, particularly to understand the distinct requirements of these two groups and reform accordingly.
13. The book analyzes five models of urbanization in China: small-town model, medium-city model, large-city model, urban-cluster model, and rural-urbanization model. The author argues that China's path of urbanization should not be rigidly adhered to any single model but should adopt an inclusive approach, employing multiple models based on different circumstances.
14. Through data analysis, the book finds that the formation of the highly densely populated southeastern coastal urban belt is inevitable. The "Southeast Coastal Line" is a division roughly parallel to the traditional "Aihui-Tengchong Line," which separates the southeastern coastal provinces from other regions. The southeastern coastal area is the most concentrated region for floating and migrant populations. The southeastern coastal region is the primary destination for rural population inflow and is expected to become the most densely populated aggregation area in China in the future, as well as the region with the fastest urbanization development.
15. The book proposes the concept of a tripartite social structure. The tripartite structure is historically based on a dual structure, and the author argues that the term "tripartite social structure" better reflects the actual situation in China. The essence of the third group lies in its possession of certain urban resources compared to rural residents, while it possesses only limited urban resources compared to urban residents, making it an informal urban group excluded from formal urban residents. This newly emerging group is not a unified class but can be considered a new identity group.
In addition to the author's efforts, this book also embodies the contributions of some of the author's past and present students and friends. Chapter 14 was completed by the author's former student, Dr. Zhou Hongyun, now at the Central. Chapters 2, 15, and 18 were the result of collaboration between the author and graduate student Zhang Haihui. The writing of sections 1 and 2 of Chapter 17 involved the participation of the author's former student, Professor Li Yingsheng, now teaching at Renmin University, and Dr. Hao Dahai. Mr. Tang Zhuang from Tsinghua University contributed significantly to the literature preparation for Chapter 6. Additionally, most of the data used in this book were collected through surveys organized by the author and their students. The author sincerely thanks all the students, friends, and colleagues for their contributions.
The author's long-term research and writing were completed under the meticulous care of Ms. Zhang Hua, the author's wife. The author is particularly grateful for her contributions.
This research was supported by the "National Social Science Fund Project" (01ASH003) and the "Key Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Research of the Ministry of Education" (02JAZ840003). The author expresses their sincere gratitude here.
Li Qiang
July 5, 2004
at LaoqicCampus, Tsinghua University