A Preliminary Exploration Into Migrant Workers' Problem In Cultural Identification During Their Shifting Between Urban Culture And Rural Culture

During the early development of China's market economy, a large number of surplus labors in rural areas swarmed into cities to make a living. They learn new things quickly and are able to fast integrate themselves into an urban life, though they have to return to where they come from due to various reasons. They go through manifest or invisible conflicts in cultural identification when shifting between rural culture and urban culture, leading to their bewilderedness in self-identification. This gravely affects the harmonious development of the society.This paper elucidates the importance of studying back-home migrant workers'identification with urban culture and rural culture. It's based on the investigation reports on the basic conditions of the back-home migrant works at Village A of Yanduhe Town, Badong County, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. It also draws upon available research findings on back-home migrant workers.To start with, it defines and clarifies the connotations of"back-home migrant worker","cultural identification"and"urban culture and rural culture". Then, it sheds light on the disparities between back-home migrant workers'identification with urban culture and their identification with rural culture via case study from three aspects: material culture, social culture and spiritual culture. Furthermore, examples from these three aspects are given for analysis and validation.This paper presents solutions for this problem from three perspectives: urban areas, rural areas and migrant workers. As for urban areas, the government should take into consideration both urban development and rural development, and take measures to bridge the urban-rural gap, to promote exchange and interactions between urban people and migrant workers, and to increase the cities'acceptance and forgiveness towards migrant workers, as well as to spur up the identification of children of migrant workers with urban culture. As for rural areas: land rights of farmers should be secured; economy should be developed with local conditions to boost employment; skill training programs should be carried out to enhance the overall qualities of farmers. As for back-home migrant workers, they should adjust their mind to the situation with external help, thus actively adapting to the shift from urban culture to rural culture.