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This book argues that using social capital to eradicate poverty is less likely to succeed because the mainstream neoinstitutional approach mistakenly assumes that social capital necessarily benefits poor people. This inadequacy calls for a re-assessment of human motivations, institutional dynamics and structural complexity in social capital building. Using ethnographic and participatory methods, this book calls for an exploration of ‘unseen’ social capital which is intended to challenge the mainstream understanding of ‘seen’ social capital. As such this book is useful to policy makers and practitioners.

Rural-urban migration within China has transformed and reshaped rural people's lives during the past few decades, and has been one of the most visible phenomena of the economic reforms enacted since the late 1970s. Whilst Feminist scholars have addressed rural women's experience of struggle and empowerment in urban China, in contrast, research on rural men's experience of migration is a neglected area of study. In response, this book seeks to address the absence of male migrant workers as a gendered category within the current literature on rural-urban migration. Examining Chinese male migrant workers' identity formation, this book explores their experience of rural-urban migration and their status as an emerging sector of a dislocated urban working class. It seeks to understand issues of gender and class through the rural migrant men's narratives within the context of China's modernization, and provides an in-depth analysis of how these men make sense of their new lives in the rapidly modernizing, post-Mao China with its emphasis on progress and development. Further, this book uses the men's own narratives to challenge the elite assumption that rural men's low status is a result of their failure to adopt a modern urban identity and lifestyle. Drawing on interviews with 28 male rural migrants, Xiaodong Lin unpacks the gender politics of Chinese men and masculinities, and in turn contributes to a greater understanding of global masculinities in an international context. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars working in the fields of Chinese culture and society, gender studies, migration studies, sociology and social anthropology. Shortlisted for this year's BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.

Behind China's growing economic and political power is a vast underworld of marginalized social groups.In this powerful and timely book, Wanning Sun focuses on the country's hundreds of millions of rural migrant workers, who embody China's most intractable problems of inequality.

Hong Kong is a meeting place for migrant domestic workers, traders, refugees, asylum seekers, tourists, businessmen, and local residents. In Born Out of Place, Nicole Constable looks at the experiences of Indonesian and Filipina women in this Asian world city. Giving voice to the stories of these migrant mothers, their South Asian, African, Chinese, and Western expatriate partners, and their Hong Kong–born babies, Constable raises a serious question: Do we regard migrants as people, or just as temporary workers? This accessible ethnography provides insight into global problems of mobility, family, and citizenship and points to the consequences, creative responses, melodramas, and tragedies of labor and migration policies.

Using ethnographic and participatory methods, this timely volume calls for an exploration of 'unseen' social capital.

Background Based on their place of employment, workers with agricultural hukou (WAH) are categorized into local workers with agricultural hukou (LWAH) and migrant workers with agricultural hukou (MWAH). Research shows that although LWAH often find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of labour income and access to public services, the significant growth of this group in recent years has drawn attention to their choice of workplace and the factors influencing it. Guided by the theories of self-determination and social comparison, this study aims to explore the impact of the differences between LWAH and MWAH in psychological needs and social comparisons on life satisfaction, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Methods This study utilizes data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2020, employing a two-way fixed effects model to investigate the differences in life satisfaction between 1,976 LWAH and MWAH. Additionally, propensity score matching (PSM) is used to conduct regression analysis on the matched sample, providing a more accurate comparison of life satisfaction between LWAH and MWAH under similar individual characteristics. Finally, the study further examines the mediating effects of perceived social status and job satisfaction and analyses the differences in life satisfaction between LWAH and MWAH across dimensions such as generation, region, and work conditions. Results The baseline regression results indicate that LWAH have significantly higher life satisfaction compared to MWAH, and this finding is robust to various tests. Mediation analysis reveals that perceived social status plays a mediating role in the difference in life satisfaction between LWAH and MWAH, while job satisfaction does not have a significant mediating effect. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that intergenerational, regional, and work condition differences have varying impacts on the life satisfaction of two groups. Conclusions This study provides important insights into understanding the workplace choices and quality of life of Chinese workers with agricultural hukou. Finally, to effectively promote situ urbanization processes, local governments need to prioritize enhancing workers with agricultural hukou (WAH)’s autonomy, sense of competence, and social status, thereby improving their perceived social status in society and attracting more labourers to return to their hometowns for work and entrepreneurship.

The last two decades have witnessed a substantial growth of the owner-occupied housing sector in urban China, where most people tend to follow a conventional life course in terms of ascending the housing ladder towards homeownership. Yet, with skyrocketing housing prices in the real estate market, fragmentation in housing opportunities has become more important in reshaping the structure of social inequalities. This paper investigates the disparities in housing careers between skilled migrants and their local counterparts in Nanjing, focusing on temporal and spatial aspects. Specifically, this paper examines how skilled migrants’ housing tenure and location change over time, to what extent these changes differ from those of skilled locals, and what factors contribute to the disparities between migrants and locals. The results verify that there are indeed disparities in housing careers between migrants and locals, and the foremost difference lies in the tenure, especially the tenure of the first residence. Spatially, migrants exhibit an outward-bound pattern, often associated with the transition from renting to owning. These disparities in housing careers could be primarily attributed not only to the gap of the intergenerational transfer of wealth between migrants and locals, which can be traced back to regional disparities in economic development, but also to the self-selection of migration. While facing skyrocketing housing prices, the timing of making a foray into the housing market is pivotal. This study also revealed the diminishing marginal utility of education that is found in terms of establishing a superior housing career. 过去二十年来，中国城市的自住住房部门大幅增长，大多数人倾向于遵循传统的生活方式，向上提升自己以加入有房一族的行列。然而，随着房地产市场房价飙升，住房机会的分割对于重塑社会不平等结构变得更加重要。本文调查了南京技术工人移民与当地同行之间的住房历程差异，重点是时间和空间方面。具体而言，本文探讨了技术工人移民的住房保有形式和地点随时间的变化情况，这些变化与当地技术工人的差异程度，以及导致移民与当地人之间差异的因素。结果证实，移民与当地人之间的住房历程确实存在差异，最重要的差异在于住房保有形式，尤其是第一个住所的保有形式。在空间上，移民表现出一种向外的模式，通常与从租赁到拥有的过渡有关。住房历程的这些差异的主要原因不仅是移民与当地人之间财富代际转移的差距（这可以追溯到经济发展的地区差异），也可归因于移民的自我选择。在面临暴涨的房价时，进入房地产市场的时机至关重要。这项研究还揭示了在建立住房历程优势方面教育的边际效用递减。

Over the past few decades, China’s economic growth and urbanization have driven a significant migration of rural laborers to cities. Recently, however, an increasing number of migrant workers have chosen to return to their hometowns for employment opportunities. Understanding the factors influencing this return migration is crucial but challenging due to the complexity and diversity of these factors and their intricate interrelationships. Moreover, existing research on migrant workers’ return lacks a systematic theoretical framework and comprehensive empirical analysis. To address these gaps, our study utilizes the \"Push-Pull Theory\" from migration theory to develop a comprehensive model. This model investigates how perceived benefits, trust, costs, and both personal and government support affect migrant workers’ willingness to return. We employ structural equation modeling (SEM) for empirical analysis, revealing that perceived benefits, trust, and costs significantly influence migrant workers’ perception of return support. This perception, in turn, enhances their willingness to return. Additionally, our findings show that government support positively moderates the relationship between perceived benefits and costs with return support. However, it does not significantly affect the relationship between perceived trust and support, indicating that policy incentives alone may not sufficiently build trust in hometowns. Furthermore, emotional factors—such as family and place attachment, community involvement, and quality of life in hometowns—indirectly influence the decision to return by shaping perceived benefits, trust, and costs. This study advances the application of Push-Pull Theory by integrating economic factors with emotional bonds in the context of return migration. It provides novel insights into how both economic incentives and emotional ties drive migrant workers’ decisions to return, offering a more nuanced understanding of migration dynamics in China.

This book, a sequel to Inequality and Public Policy in China (2008), examines the evolution of inequality in China from 2002 to 2007, a period when the new 'harmonious society' development strategy was adopted under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. It fills a gap in knowledge about the outcomes of this development strategy for equity and inequality. Drawing on original information collected from the recent two waves of nationwide household surveys conducted by the China Household Income Project, this book provides a detailed overview of recent trends in income inequality and cutting-edge analysis of key factors underlying such trends. Topics covered include inequality in education, changes in homeownership and the distribution of housing wealth, the evolution of the migrant labor market, disparities between public and non-public sectors, patterns of work and non-work, gender, ethnicity, and the impacts of public policies such as reforms in taxation and social welfare programs.