Social Exclusion and Young Rural-Urban Migrants’ Integration into a Host Society in China

Abstract

This article explores correlates of the socioeconomic integration of young rural-urban migrants in a host society in China. Using a new typology that distinguishes hukou (household registration system), migration status, and age, multilevel modeling results indicate that young rural-urban migrants achieve a lower socioeconomic status than local youths and urban-urban migratory youths. This challenges the notion that marketization necessarily promotes rights and legal equality in a linear fashion and suggests that the potentially positive impact of migration on personal development might be compromised by institutional constraints (e.g., hukou) that exclude migrants from rural areas, as well as other outsiders, particularly youths.