The Role of Social Networks in the Integration of Chinese Rural-Urban Migrants: A Migrant-Resident Tie Perspective

Using data from a survey of rural-urban migrants in X City, China, this paper investigates the relationships between migrant-resident ties and migrant integration. Migrant integration is assessed with respect to three dimensions: acculturation, socioeconomic integration, and psychological integration. We divide migrant networks into three categories: kin resident ties, non-kin resident ties, and non-resident ties. We also examine the relation between resources embedded in migrant networks and socioeconomic integration by translating position-generator data into network resource indices. Our results reveal that non-resident ties still make up the majority of migrant networks and migrant-resident ties are significantly associated with migrant integration. The roles of non-kin resident ties in migrant integration are more consequential. They have positive effects on all three dimensions. Considering the different effects of migrant networks on different dimensions of integration, many migrants risk being trapped in permanent poverty and falling into the underclass in city societies.