Migrant Workers’ Utilitarian Consumption Of Relations

Since 1980s, "the tide of migrant workers" has characteristics of China gradually emerged. And China is changing from "planned economy" to "socialist market economy", the emergence of migrant workers is the inevitable result, but as the main body of the allocation of resources, market is not the optimal path to access resources for migrant workers, and existing social organizations will increase the cost of the city life and production, so migrant workers constructing social relationship has become the main path to obtaining social resources, especially the formation of occupation-related network. "San-dongxi" phenomenon is prevalent in northern rural areas of Anhui province, in traditional rural this kind of social exchange is relative fairness, reciprocity. But in the Occupation-Related Group, which have broken the market rule of fair exchange, and evolved into the means of benefit. Its essence is to make the establishment of social relations utilitarian.In Wuxi, Jiangyin and other places in the investigation we found that this special group of migrant workers was social exclusion and discriminated by the city, which prompting them based on blood relationship, and then to construct social relations actively with the high homogeneity of the members of the society; Secondly, recycling to determine their work attributes concentrated in the suburbs of rental, which increases the frequency of social interactions between them, and the formation of occupation-related group; Thirdly, a business relationship between the groups, which is conducive to the formation of relatively close relationship; Finally, they always keep business contacts very well, then the group relation "favor+interest" pattern gradually formed, provides the context for the utilitarian consumption of relationship occurred.Based on the Occupation-Related Group in the case study, we found "San-dongxi" events is often occurred, and each member with a clear function to obtain certain economic benefits, the essence is the utilitarian consumption of relationship,. The nature of things is also reflected that the group members have gradually change from rural social relationship group relations identity to the construction Occupation-related group which is the emotional relations and utilitarian relations coexist, at the same time, in the pursuit of material interests, group members also gradually from the public law to individual preference transformation.In view of the market economy, "San-dongxi" is a kind of unfair market exchange. But from the point of sociology, the reason why it implementation success is that this utilitarian consumption relation to follow the logic balance of favor exchange, and the equilibrium logic here is refers to the social interaction in more than three people, individuals must act according to the specific situation of standard, mainly for favor exchange of balance, the sentiment and the principle of balance, relationships and trust equilibrium and balance of interests. At the same time, to balance the logic of favor exchange also conducive to the strengthening of the relationship between group members.