| Author: | Xu, Heng |
| Title: | Opening up the chances of being urban middle class? Unveiling tensions of well-educated rural-to-urban migrant’s life experience in Central China in the era of new-type urbanization project |
| Advisors: | Koo, Anita (APSS) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Subject: | Rural-urban migration -- China Urban policy -- China Social classes -- China Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Applied Social Sciences |
| Pages: | xiv, 412 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Since the implementation of China's new-type urbanization project in 2014, together with the nationwide relaxation of the hukou system and the enactment of a series of 'university graduate-friendly' policies in China's inland metropolises, well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' prospects of achieving upward social mobility in urban China has been described in an overly optimistic light. Building on a series of literature which have attempted to identify the underlying factors that contribute to shaping rural-to-urban migrants'life chances and upward social mobility prospects in urban areas, this research deploys the bottom-up perspective to unveil the tensions well-educated rural-to-urban migrants encounter in their upward social mobility pursuit in Central China under the context of the new-type urbanization project. Based on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 20 well-educated rural-to-urban migrants in Wuhan Provincial City and Xiaogan Prefecture City (both are pilot cities of the new-type urbanization project in Central China), as well as an intensive exploration of the new-type urbanization project in these two cities, this research argues that well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' motivation and experience of pursuing upward social mobility is not only embedded in their experience of geographic mobility under the rural-to-urban divide, but is also shaped by the socioeconomic and institutional changes brought by the implementation of a new-type urbanization project. More specifically, well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' specific experience of geographic mobility not only allows them to obtain a first-tier university diploma, relatively higher income, and white-collar occupations in urban areas, but also invokes their strong aspiration of settling down in the city and further obtaining urban middle-class membership. However, the radical socioeconomic changes and institutional shifts brought by the new-type urbanization project oblige well-educated rural-to-urban migrants to accept the fact that urban homeownership outweighs the urban hukou and their occupational status in defining their expected urban middle-class membership. Meanwhile, with insufficient economic and social capital, well-educated rural-to-urban migrants cannot overcome the difficulties of obtaining urban homeownership and other privileges which serve to underpin urban middle-class membership. The irreconcilable tension between well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' strong aspiration of being urban middle class, on the one hand, and the insurmountable challenges they encounter in obtaining urban homeownership and other privileges enjoyed by their urban counterparts, on the other hand, drag them into the swamp of senses of deprivation, uncertainty, and inferiority. In contrast to governmental propaganda predicting that the 'university graduate-friendly' project would broaden up well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' road towards achieving full development in urban areas, this research highlights that the 'university graduate-friendly' project operates to repress well-educated rural-to-urban migrants into the pool of cheap intellectual labour and further increases Wuhan's advantage in the fierce inter-urban competitions. Thus, the conflict between well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' aspiration of being urban middle class and the fundamental aim of this project inevitably leads to this project's inadequacy in assisting well-educated urban migrants to obtain their aspired urban middle-class membership. For well-educated rural-to-urban migrants who move to Xiaogan, their decision to move back is not only the product of negotiation they made under the rural-urban divide, but also is driven by the expectation they assign to Xiaogan. They perceive Xiaogan as the comfortable arena in which they can more easily achieve urban middle-class membership and fulfil their family formation plan. At the same time, this research finds that the institutional and socioeconomic changes brought by the 'Wuhan-Xiaogan' Integration Project increase returned migrants' difficulties of obtaining urban middle-class membership and make them more vulnerable to the underlying contingencies and risks of their urban life in Xiaogan Prefecture City. Overall, this research aims to understand the well-educated rural-to-urban migrants' shared experience of geographic mobility and expectation for urban middle-class membership, their diverse choices of destination, and their life chances in urban areas. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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