Perceived Discrimination In Project-Induced Displacement And Resettlement

The resettlement of migrants caused by major construction projects(hereinafter referred to as “project-induced migrants”)is a thorny and complicated issue.Since 1993,the Three Gorges project migration problem has experienced decades,and there exist many social integration problems.The millions of migrants in the Three Gorges reservoir area should not only be successfully “moved out”,but also be “prosper” and achieve the goal of “gradually getting rich” in the long run.The project-induced migrants moved out of the original living environment passively,and tried to adapt to the resettlement place in politics,economy,culture and other aspects.This process is long and slow,and requires a lot of resources and energy.In addition,the resettlement of these migrants has impacted the original living environment of the residents in the reservoir area,causing problems such as urban sprawl and environmental degradation,industrial hollowing and migration unemployment,cultural fault and loss of tradition,as well as social anomies and class differentiation.Especially in this process,these migrants may be gradually marginalized or discriminated,accompanied by their psychological stress and health problems,hindering their further integration into the settlement society.This paper explores how to better understand the internal mechanism between perceived discrimination and social integration of project-induced migrants through questionnaire survey and hierarchical regression modeling.The results show that:1)As far as individuals are concerned,good health status,satisfactory income and migrants' positive attitude towards migration and settlement can help to alleviate their perceived discrimination.In terms of individual differences,external support can make up for the deficiency of vulnerable individuals.From the perspective of supporting policies,migrants can enjoy the benefits of the project,such as corresponding property compensation or project benefit sharing to them restore to the previous living standard.2)In order to better integrate into the local society,project-induced migrants have tried to establish a balance between different cultures and social networks,especially kinship based relationships,which can greatly alleviate their perceived discrimination.Therefore,in order to give full play to the role of social networks,we should try to transfer migrants as a whole,and give priority to nearby migration to avoid long-distance migration such as trans-provincial migration,so as to maximize the process and effect of social integration.3)A good living environment,such as satisfactory housing and business conditions,can not only make up for the discrimination perceived by migrants,but also help them deal with the social and cultural barriers encountered and make up for their psychological perception of being excluded.For the communities where migrants live,the design should follow the basic living needs of migrants,and equip them with infrastructure and life services which are suitable enough to meet the needs of migrants' life,so as to weaken the psychological perception of inequality.In addition,in regard of construction projects,the government should pay more attention to its function and role played during the resettlement.From the planning of the project,such as the selection of reasonable resettlement ways,and the implementation of the project while at the same time paying attention to environmental protection and ecological balance maintenance,as well as the support for a sound migration management system,thus promoting the stable and harmonious development of the migrant society.By studying the discrimination encountered in the integration process of project-induced migrants,this paper explores the influencing factors that trigger or alleviate their perceived discrimination,so as to provide a theoretical basis for migrants and their social integration in the future,as well as laying basis for research on group mental health.This paper also puts forward several policy suggestions,including the improvement and optimization of the resettlement of migrants,community construction in resettlement areas,etc.,in a way offering ideas for the planning of follow-up construction projects and social integration of involuntary migrants,and help to promote the sustainable development of the project and society.