Bridging "isolated islands": heterogeneous social networks facilitate the social integration of Chinese migrant workers.

Background: China's migrant workers have long resided in the city's "isolated islands", facing challenges in fully integrating into urban life. This study investigates the impact of social networks on the social integration of migrant workers, focusing on the role of diverse social networks in enhancing integration.

Methods: Using 2018 CLDS data, the study empirically analyzes the relationship between social networks and migrant workers' social integration, employing endogeneity treatment, robustness testing, and Heterogeneity analysis with a 2SLS model.

Results: The results show that social networks significantly influence migrant workers' social integration, particularly through increased participation in social organizations and activities. Moreover, diverse social networks improve social integration by enhancing social trust levels, with effects varying across age, education, living environment, and migration type.

Conclusions: These findings deepen our understanding of social integration processes and offer insights for policy interventions to promote inclusive urbanization. By emphasizing the importance of diverse social networks in fostering social participation, this study underscores the need to enhance interpersonal relationships to facilitate migrant workers' integration into urban communities. To enhance migrant workers' social integration, it is essential to enhance the institutional environment, promote communication between migrant workers and urban residents, and foster a culture of trust in contemporary society.