Page 42 - IJPS-7-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Objective and subjective assimilation of migrants

the subjective assimilation process include the bias with Gracia, 2011; Neto, 1995; Zheng et al., 2004).
the wrong comparison group, and the failure to detect the Moreover, relative income compared to the
right comparison group. This raises doubts about whether reference group is more likely to affect subjective
this seemingly objective phenomenon is truly objective. well-being than absolute income (Ferrer-i-
In other words, the mere observation of migrants who are Carbonell, 2005; Luttmer, 2005; McBride, 2001).
similar to Group A may not necessarily be interpreted as Therefore, while both may promote subjective
assimilation. Assimilation should be treated as including well-being, it is likely that the subjective path
both objective and subjective processes, rather than a purely of assimilation will have a stronger impact on
objective process. This is why it is important to account for subjective well-being than the objective path of
the migrant-selected reference group and their assimilation assimilation. The corresponding hypothesis is
into their chosen reference group. This provides a more proposed:
comprehensive understanding of assimilation and makes Hypothesis 4: Both economic assimilations into the
it possible to explore how the two paths are intertwined, mainstream and into the reference group have positive
how factors affect assimilation through different paths, and impacts on subjective well-being, but the impact of
how assimilation affects outcomes through different paths. economic assimilation on the reference group is stronger.

1.2. Hypotheses 1.3. China’s rural-to-urban migration: assimilation
The primary goal is to explore assimilation as the To test the hypotheses, this paper focuses on China’s
combination of subjective and objective paths. Based on rural-to-urban migration. It tests whether the concept of
the proposed theoretical framework, the choice of the assimilation can be applied to China’s internal migration,
reference group is expected to be subjective or intentional. because internal migrants may not face the same barriers
The following hypothesis tests this idea: due to citizenship and significant cultural differences as
Hypothesis 1: Migrants who intend to become international migrants.
permanent migrants are willing to choose local residents In China, rural-to-urban migrants do face strong
as their reference group. institutional, economic, cultural, and social barriers once
In addition, because the migrants may consciously they migrate to the host city, largely due to the household
assimilate into the reference group while registration system – Hukou (Wang & Fan, 2012). This
unconsciously assimilating into the mainstream, system restricts where people can live and which resources
the latter (i.e., objective process) is likely affected and benefits, they can access. Although it is not as
by the assimilation into the reference group (i.e., formidable as citizenship, it does put these internal migrants
subjective). Thus, the following hypothesis is in a similar position as international migrants. Moreover,
proposed: rural-to-urban migrants share a key similarity with most
Hypothesis 2: Economic assimilation into the disadvantaged international migrants – economic and
mainstream is mainly dependent on the economic social marginalization (Wong et al., 2007). They usually take
assimilation into the reference group. on low-skilled occupations that are physically demanding
Moreover, by considering the subjective path in and dangerous (Yang & Guo, 1996). Their occupational
assimilation, there could be pathways that affect outcomes largely depend on whether they can change their
assimilation into the mainstream by affecting hukou status, similar to the case of changing legal status in
assimilation into the reference group. This gives international migration (Chen et al., 2022). Furthermore,
rise to the following hypothesis: language and dialects differ significantly across regions in
Hypothesis 3: There are major stratification factors, China. Finally, there are significant differences between rural
such as gender and education, that affect economic and urban culture (Zhong et al., 2016). The applicability of
assimilation into the mainstream through economic assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization
assimilation into the reference group. has been tested in China’s social context and has shown that
Finally, after disentangling the subjective path both assimilation and integration are applicable (Xie et al.,
from the objective path, their further impacts 2016).
can be explored. Since economic assimilation
already reflects objective well-being, it is helpful 2. Data and methods
to investigate its impact on subjective well-being 2.1. Data sources
as well. According to the literature, assimilation
or integration has a positive impact on subjective This study used the Chinese Household Income Project for
well-being (Angelini et al., 2015; Herrero & the year 2013. The sample was collected using a systematic

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2021) 36 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v7i2.346