Labor Migration’s Effects On Marriage

As China continues its process of marketization and urbanization, more and morepeople choose to be migrant laborers, who comprise one of the most importantsegments of China’s current migratory population. The act of migration disrupts theordinary, stable life course and then creates a series of transition-related effects. Duringthis process of migration, marriage is a key issue that not only determines individual lifecourse development, but also relates to the macro level transformation of socialstructure and demographic structure. Hence, an analysis of the influence of labormigration on marriage will deepen our understanding of the changes migrants undergothemselves in their migration experiences, and provide explanations accounting for therelationships between labor migration and social changes. Using survey data from theUrbanization and Labor Migrants Project2012, this dissertation aims to explore theeffects of labor migration on marriage and the differentiation of these effects in differentcohorts.This dissertation found that labor migration in China was influenced by acombination of historical, societal, and individual forces--particularly that of statecontrol. From the perspective of the relationship between institutional factors andmigration following the founding of the People’s Republic of China, labor migration indifferent periods all served national development strategies. The state played a criticalrole. In this context, China’s labor migration displayed both diversity and mobility, andadopted various marriage forms according to spousal migration experiences, migrationtiming, and the circumstances of separation.Based on the above analyses and empirical studies, the author found thatlabor migration experiences delayed the age at first marriage, reduced thehomogeneity probability of marriage matching, and displayed negativeinfluences on marriage quality, whereas the timing and processes of migrationalso mattered for these outcomes. Labor migration affects marriage through theabove three mechanisms, which demonstrate that migrants slowed theirreproduction because of themigration, and consequently reduced their endogamyprobability and marriage quality. In sum, this dissertation argues that individual agency plays an importantrole in how migration influences marriage, resulting in the diversity ofmigrants’ life courses under a proximate context, and interconnected lives relateindividual migrants to the macro family structure. Concerning the cohort effects,compared with1940s-50s and1980s-90s cohorts, the marriages of1960s-70scohorts were the most deeply affected by migration. This is due to the differenthistorical backgrounds and the varying characteristics of migration at that timefor the three cohorts. Finally, the influence of migration on marriage alsorevealed the current marriage squeeze challenge and other social problems,including social structure closure in host communities, which can only beovercome by deepening reform of the household registration system.