Homeland Is Difficult To Return:Study On The Marginalization Of Migrant Workers In The New Generation

This study uses the G village in Anhui Province as a case to investigate the marginalization of the new generation of migrant workers after returning home,focusing on the question of "why young people are not willing to return to the countryside".Putting the group’s research into the rural social field,trying to re-recognize the rural migrant workers’group,sort out its interaction with the rural structure,understand its psychological dialogue with the rural areas and explore The marginal human identity under the reconstitution of "structure-psychology".In the dual social and economic structure of urban and rural areas,as a new group of migrant workers,the new generation of migrant workers are quite different from the first generation of migrant workers rooted in agricultural production and rural life.Their life course after adulthood is always in the cyclical flow of"going into the city-returning home,".Therefore,for the study of the new generation of migrant workers,it is necessary to see the multiple and complex connections between the urban and rural areas,which are embedded in the workerrs’continuous flows of "going into the city".This paper believes that after experiencing the "separation" of the rural society and the urbanization experience of urban social life,the new generation of migrant workers no longer regard the rural community as the object of identification,and show psychological discomfort and identity after returning home.The lack of sense and belonging,as well as the structural edge predicament,thus forming a marginal personality to actively alienate the local society.This paper uses the analytical framework of "Structural Edge—Psychological Edge"to explain the marginalization of the new generation of migrant workers after returning home from the two logical levels of structure and practice.The starting point of the formation of the structural edge is the change of the social situation in which the actor is located,that is,the change of the situation.The author divides the situational changes that involve the new generation of migrant workers into two categories:gradual situational change and sudden situational change.The former corresponds to the long-term gradual change of the rural self in the time dimension,mainly including the weakness of the internal internal connection.The transformation of the production structure;the latter corresponds to the sudden changes in the situation faced by the new generation of migrant workers returning to the countryside after experiencing the long-term urban life experience,including the role distance caused by changes in individual social roles,cultural conflicts and resource differences between urban and rural areas caused by the changes of cultural context.When the new generation of migrant workers cannot adjust themselves to face this kind of situational change,they will have confrontation or discomfort with the returning-home life,causing the individual to fall into the edge of structure.The investigation of the formation of marginal personality after the return of the new generation of migrant workers involves the practical logic of the micro-actors.The formation of the marginal personality mainly manifests in three aspects:the psychological contradiction formed by the change of the reference group;the psychological loss caused by the lack of peer group;psychological anxiety under collective pressure,the formation of marginal personality causes the individuals be in long-term anxiety and inappropriateness,thus causing psychological margins.Changes in the situation can result in the changes and conflicts in the identity of the subject of the action and in the external environment.On the one hand,this change has impacted the long-standing habits of the new generation of migrant workers,leading to the change of the logic in their actions.The fringe situation created by the change of situation has become the new situational condition to the new generation of migrant workers,making them creatively adopt coping strategies;On the other hand,the social actions of the new generation of migrant workers will continue to maintain or change their own situation and at the same time give feedback to the social structure,which becomes the condition for follow-up activitioes,and the individual’s understanding of the situation and the level of social adaptation determine whether it is caught in the marginal predicament.In conclusion,the marginalization of migrant workers in the new generation can be seen as a product of structural edge and psychological edge mutual structure,a special type and the result of social adaptation,a long-term marginalization process that achieves the production and reproduction of the marginal pepole by the structural and dynamic intertwinement.