The Urban Political Participation Of New Generation Of Migrant Workers In The Perspective Of Society Capital Theory

With the process of industrialization and urbanization,the new social class “migrantworkers”appeared.At present,new generation of migrant workers are about100,000,000,60percent ofthe total.They were born in the1980s and1990s, then, receive high level of education,and have less andeven no farming experiences.They wish eagerly to incorporate the urban life and have consciousness ofself-right maintenance. The political participation of new generation is the manifestation ofdemocracy,the inherent requirement of justice,and the way to strengthen stability and vitality inharmonious society.The purpose of this research is to find out the level of political participation of newgeneration,and the relationship between their social capital and the current situation.The objects of thispaper are migrant workers in Beijing,whose ages are between18and31.This study use documents andinterviews to collect information and data,then find that,in the cognition respect,some have strongsubject consciousness,while others have weak democratic consciousnesses.In the affection respect,someadmit to the state policies basically,while others are indifferent or even suspicious of our politicalsystem. In the motivation respect,some wish eagerly to seek self-development, some have strong senseof social responsibility, seeking equality and the benefit of the whole class, while others are utilitarian.In the attitute respect, some are eager to participate in politics, while others are indifferent. In the actionrespect, comparing with the previous migrants,they have higher level of political participation and tendto network political participation. But the separation of perception and action and low level of politicalparticipation still exsit. The new generation mainly participate in politics through network and joiningthe Party or the League.Some of them are very indifferent and never participate in politics. In a whole,four types of the political participation are participative, obedient, apathetic and dissimilative.If one’ssocial network is large and diversified, one’s weak ties is much more,and one has a central position,hewill have more actual or potential resources, then, he will gain relevant cognition, affection, motivation,attitude and improve the level of political participation.These findings tell us that on the one hand,thegovernment should maintain and establish official organization, such as labour union,the communistyouth league and the women’s federation,so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrantworkers.On the other hand,migrant workers should expand and reconstruct their inoffical social supportnetwork,so as to increase their social capital and improve the level of political participation.