Agriculture to Industry -- The Labor and Life of Displaced Farmers

Author: Zhang Ruli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-17
Features: This article's topic has two aspects of significance: First, the transformation from agriculture to industry is a unique form of rural residents entering the city during the process of urbanization, and until now, there has been a lack of systematic research on this; second, the absorption and exclusion effects of China's existing system on farmers entering the city are concentrated in the transformation from agriculture to industry, which is very meaningful for people to predict and speculate on the constraints on farmers entering the city after the household registration system reform. The concepts of "marginalization" and "re-marginalization" are of great value for analyzing the living conditions, social status, social identity, and the relationship between farmers entering the city and the existing urban system.
— Professor Sun Liping, Department of Sociology, Tsinghua University
Based on a large amount of literature and reliable field research data, the author analyzes China's transformation from agriculture to industry and urbanization over the past 50 years, focusing on the living conditions of those who transform from agriculture to industry to analyze their characteristics in the urban economic and social life of different periods. The author points out that during the planned economy period, the transformation from agriculture to industry was actively marginalized, and under the development of the market economy and the change in the comparative interests of urban-rural farmers, they were passively marginalized. In the context of declining efficiency in state-owned enterprises, increased layoffs, and unemployment, the transformation from agriculture to industry was re-marginalized. The author's description of the re-marginalization of those who transform from agriculture to industry is detailed and the analysis is profound. This research on the consequences of farmers' urbanization in the context of sharp market changes provides valuable insights for China's choice of rapid rural urbanization.
— Professor Wang Sibin, Department of Sociology, Peking University
The transformation from agriculture to industry is a unique institutional arrangement in China for farmers who lose their land due to land expropriation to work in the city. Through field research, the author analyzes the characteristics of those who transform from agriculture to industry in urban economic and social life in different periods and summarizes their living conditions: actively marginalized under the planned economy and dual urban-rural system, passively marginalized in the context of market economic development and changes in the comparative interests of urban-rural farmers, and re-marginalized in the context of declining efficiency in state-owned enterprises, increased layoffs, and unemployment. The author points out that behind these phenomena are profound institutional reasons, and further concludes that the marginalization of those who transform from agriculture to industry is characterized by institutional absorption and institutional exclusion, affecting the marginalization of different types of those who transform from agriculture to industry. This research also provides profound insights for analyzing the consequences of farmers' urbanization in the context of sharp market changes.