Social Mobility among Entrepreneurial Migrants

Abstract

This case study of entrepreneurial migrants at, and associated with, the Dongguan Humen Zhisheng School explores the upward social mobility experienced by entrepreneurial migrants as they move from their hometowns to Dongguan and become business owners. The strategies they adopt during the transition are vital to achieving upward social mobility. To transform themselves from hired laborers to business owners, they seek funding from their original social networks based on family and location and set up new social networks in their places of residence to share information and other external resources. While moving upward, these migrants use their networks to create a new, distinct social space. Although entrepreneurial migrants readily adapt to urban life, the household registration system and discriminatory regulations based on it require them to return to their places of origin at crucial moments in their lives. In terms of political status and social reputation, entrepreneurial migrants still find themselves on the "fringe" of urban society. As a result, they have not truly completed the migration from countryside to city or moved to a higher social stratum.