City Integration Of Migrant Rural Workers: An Investigation With Social Capital Perspective

City integration of migrant rural workers is an importment issue in the current social development of China.City integration of migrant rural workers in this paper is defined as a process,in which migrant rural workers as a group migrate to cities and gradually integrate into urban society.This process can be divided into two stages,namely migration and integration.This paper intends to study city integration of migrant rural workers with social capital perspective.Most of previous studies in this area take the perspective of micro-social capital,which results in neglect of such factors as institions,organizations, and culture.This paper takes institution- and organization-related factors into consideration, well complementing the current literature.Based on the recent development in social capity and social network theory and the transformational conditions in China,this paper argues that the economic rational analysis methodology recommended by mainstream economists does not apply here,while the analytic tools in the social capital area may be more suitable.After putting forward the proposition that individuals' social action is subject to social relations and social structure, this paper defines the concept of social capital.In detail,the main contents of this paper are as follows.~c irstly,based on analysis of the traditional and transformational Chinese society,this paper argues that social capital is embedded in social network and social structure and influenced by geographical distance,individual interations,and social norms.The structure of Chinese society and the basis of social capital are addressed,laying foundation for the formulation of social capital theoretical framework on migrant rurual workers.This paper analyses in detail the predecessors and consequences of social capital after rural workers migrate into cities.The micro-social capital of migrant rural workers is mainly dependent on geographic and social distance.The meso-social capital is determined by the resources embedded in the organizations the migrant rural workers are affiliated to.And the micro-social capital is influenced by administrative systems,economic region,and local culture.This paper argues that migrant rural workers' macro-social capital affects their migration,and their meso-social capital affects their integration into cities,and their micro-social capital affects both their migration and integration into cities.Pecondly,we surveyed 650 migrant rural workers working in k anjing,t e obtain descriptive statistics of social capital of the sampled migrant rural workers based on the survey.Thirdly,we empirically examine the effects of migrant rural workers' social capital on their migration and integration into cities,fn detail,three group of hypotheses are tested based on the data from the aforementioned survey,~cirst of all,we investigate the effects of migrant rural workers' micro-social capital on their migration to cities,ft is found that rural workers prefer to migrate to cities in the same province as their hometown rather than those in other provinces.The geographic distance between migrant rural workers' hometown and their destination cities also significantly influence their migration.The majority of rural workers choose to work in nearby cities,t e also find that whether rural workers understand the local language of the destination cities influences their choice of the destination cities,k ext,we examine how migrant rural workers' meso-social capital impacts their integration into cities,fntegration into cities is measured here by three dimensions,namely respect received,city life satisfaction,and harmony in social interaction,ft is found that the status of migrant rural workers' affiliations influences two dimentions of integration into cities,including respect received and city life satisfaction, while has no significant influence on harmony in social interaction.The status of migrant rural workers' jobs significantly influence their integration into cities,~e owever,the more jobs migrant rural workers hold in the period examined,the less likely they will integrate into city life,which is just the opposite of the research hypothesis.The location migrant rural workers work is not found to be important for their integration,too.~c inally,we test whether migrant rural workers' micro-social capital impacts significantly their city integration.The empirical results support our hypotheses by showing that migrant rural wokers' micro-social capital not only facilitates their city integration,but also helps to fred jobs with high status or high affiliation status.To sum up,this paper investigates city integration of Chinese migrant rural workers with the perspective of social capital,t e formulate a theoretical framework based on Chinese conditions to explain how various factors influence migrant rural workers' city integration.This paper helps to better understand migrant rural workers' integration into cities,which lay foundation for the government to constitute corresponding policies.And thus this paper will advances Chinese transformation from a traditional rural society to a modern one.