A Case Study On The Moving Of Immigrant Workers And Social Relation Networks

The immigrant worker is a special social group in the industrialization and urbanization of China, and will be present in a long period. This paper studies a case of Village C in the northwest, and finds through field investigations and interviews that in the context of market rules and credit systems being widely employed at present, peasants in rural areas still attach great importance into the relationship, considering the junior social relation networks as the main source of job information and main basis for moving. In the early stage of moving, strong relation is the principal social capital. Immigrant workers that enter cities construct the sub-relation networks when the rural relation networks are separated from them, which brings great influences on the citizenization of immigrant workers, and gradually brings the weak relationship into function. The moving and job-hunting of immigrant workers from Village C get no support from the institutional arrangement, and thus it is necessary to supplement the institutional capital from various aspects. From the perspective of social environment, the household registration system needs to be reformed, the national treatment should be granted to immigrant workers, and the land reform be deepened. From the perspective of the government function, the organizing function is suggested to be enhanced to provide immigrant workers with trainings and standardize the circulation of labor market. From the perspective of immigrant workers, they should strengthen their own organization so as to address the difficulty in the job-hunting and achieve rational and orderly moving.