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International Review of Education

, Volume 61, Issue 2, pp 211–233 | Cite as

The re-socialisation of migrants in a local community in Shanghai, China

  • Bo Chang
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Following China’s economic reforms in the early 1990s, the wave of internal North-to-South, West-to-East and rural-to-urban migration has still not subsided. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a local community in Shanghai supported migrants from other provinces in China in the process of their re-socialisation. By examining the component parts of re-socialisation (integration, assimilation and culturalisation), this paper analyses how the learning programmes and services provided in Shanghai’s Zhabei District played a role in migrants’ adaptation to their new community environment. The author conducted interviews with migrants of both rural and urban origin at two migrant clubs, and complemented her respondents’ statements with formal and informal background research. Her findings indicate that participation in educational activity is only one aspect of migrants’ re-socialisation. She demonstrates how educational activities merge into a larger community context and are mingled simultaneously with other activities which relate to employment, healthcare, setting up a business, etc. She argues that educational activity loses its backbone if the initial entry-level support given to migrants is not followed up with advanced development activities, such as providing migrants with lifelong learning opportunities tailored to their aptitudes and needs, motivating them to engage in learning which can serve as a pathway towards their career goals, and helping them improve their life circumstances.

Keywords

Migrants Re-socialisation Integration Assimilation Culturalisation Lifelong learning Formal, informal and non-formal learning Learning community 

Résumé

Resocialisation des migrants dans un quartier de Shanghaï (Chine) – Depuis les réformes économiques entreprises par la Chine au début des années 1990, les mouvements migratoires internes du Nord vers le Sud, de l’Ouest vers l’Est et des régions rurales aux centres urbains n’ont toujours pas diminué. La présente étude avait pour objectif d’examiner comment une communauté locale de Shanghaï a aidé les migrants venus d’autres provinces chinoises dans leur processus de resocialisation. En explorant les composantes de la resocialisation (intégration, assimilation et culturalisation), l’auteure analyse le rôle joué par les programmes et services éducatifs fournis dans le district de Zhabei de Shanghaï dans l’adaptation des migrants à leur nouvel environnement communautaire. L’auteure a mené dans deux clubs de migrants des interviews avec des nouveaux arrivants d’origine rurale et urbaine, et a complété leurs déclarations par une recherche de fond formelle et informelle. Ses conclusions signalent que la participation à une activité éducative n’est qu’un seul aspect de la resocialisation. Elle montre que les activités éducatives se fondent dans un contexte communautaire élargi et se mêlent simultanément à d’autres activités relatives à l’emploi, la santé, la création d’entreprises etc. Elle avance que l’activité éducative perd son fondement si le soutien initial de départ apporté aux migrants n’est pas suivi d’activités complémentaires, consistant par exemple en opportunités d’apprentissage tout au long de la vie ajustées à leurs aptitudes et leurs besoins, une motivation à entamer un apprentissage susceptible de servir leurs objectifs de carrière, ou une aide pour améliorer leurs conditions de vie.

摘要

中国上海一个社区里外来移民的再次社会化—随着中国二十世纪九十年代初期的经济改革,中国从北到南,从西到东的移民潮仍未减退。本文的目的在于调查上海一个当地社区如何支持来自全国各地的外来工,让他们实现再次社会化。通过调查社会化的几个主要部分(社会融合,文化同化和文化融入),本文分析了上海闸北区 如何通过提供学习项目和服务来帮助外来工适应新的社区环境。作者采访了两个外来工俱乐部里来自农村和城市的外来工,并通过正式和非正式的背景研究收集 了被调查者的称述。本研究的结果显示 ,参与教育活动仅仅是外来工实现再次社会化的一个途径。作者展示 了教育活动如何融入大的社区环境,并同时与其它诸如 招工,医疗保健,创业等活动互动交融。 作者认为,除了初始 阶段支持外来工适应新环境外,还应该根据外来工的能力和需求提供相应的终身学习机会,激励他们参与与 其职业目标相匹配的学习,并帮助他们提高其生存环境。如果初始 阶段的支持活动没有随后跟进这些后续的更深层面的发展活动,教育就会失去它 的后备支撑力量。

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Notes

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Sharan Merriam and the reviewers who kindly provided me with insightful and critical comments and very detailed and concrete suggestions. The author also thanks Dr Leland Haraszti for his detailed editing of this paper. Finally, the author would like to thank Maya Kiesselbach, Assistant Editor of the International Review of Education - Journal of Lifelong Learning (IRE), who copy-edited this paper and made it more reader friendly.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Educational Studies, Teachers CollegeBall State UniversityMuncieUSA

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