Urban Social Mobility Plight of City Wives from Countryside〔＊〕

Shen Wenjie

（Department of Social Work School of law Nanjing University of Finance and Economics，Nanjing Jiangsu 210046）

Ⅰ.Problems and background

Social mobility refers to the change of an individual or group from a social status or social class to another social status or class.One study showed that women could get a much larger social mobility by means of marriage than men by means of occupation （Chase，1975）.〔1〕Through literature retrieval，we can find that there are more researches on the migration of rural women by means of marriage，but little related documentation about the social mobility of rural women after marriage migration.

Wu Wen〔2〕believed that rural population would inevitably pursue a more affluent life and self development after having the fundamental survival guarantee.Most modern women take“affluence and development”as the criteria of happiness.

Zhao Lili〔3〕believed that the tendency of female marriage migration was generally from relatively undeveloped areas to economically developed areas，which helped female migrants get rid of severe environment in poor regions and family.Entering agood living environment enables women get more better development opportunities.However，it is such marriage tendency that limits the range of mate selection，and they can only marry men with a lower social status in the migration destination.

The marriage migration of rural females is an upward social mobility，but their movement condition gets little attention and is rarely mentioned after marriage migration.Therefore，this study attempts to explore the social mobility condition and the cause of city wives from countryside after marrying into the cities.

Ⅱ.Research method

The author carried out a field survey in Nanjing in2013 and2014，and conducted in-depth interviews with 51 city wives from countryside at the age of 23 to 35 and their families.We found the interviewees with the help of communities，adopted the uniform interview outline and unstructured interview method，and interviewed each individual for 1 to 3 hours，and some interviewees were interviewed more than twice.We also conducted the related background investigation to understand the background of individuals and their husbands’families and interviewed their family members.The research centers on the basic situations of individuals and families，personal occupation choice and change as well as future personal development plan of city wives from countryside and their families after entering into the cities.

Ⅲ.Occupation and social mobility situation of city wives from countryside

1.City wives from countryside enter the secondary labor market in cities，giving priority to the informal employment

The isolation of dual labor markets in Chinese cities forms a secondary labor market with urban peasant-workers as the main body，which is composed of the workforce with lower quality.Although city wives from countryside have urban identities，they cannot enter the primary labor market with high income，good working environment and superior welfare due to the institutional arrangement and individual factors，and can only get into the secondary labor market and be employed in traditional or informal departments.As defined by American development economist Todaro，traditional or informal departments refer to the personal or family-owned small scale production and service departments in the labor intensive way.These departments have the following features：（1）Self-employment private ownership generally；（2）limited capital scale；（3）employees with low cultural and technical level，most of which are immigrants moving from the countryside to cities and towns；（4）lower labor productivity；（5）very poor welfare in terms of the pension and labor pro-tection conditions.〔4〕According to the survey，most city wives from countryside are self-employed，unemployed and workers at the bottom of town，and only individuals are employees in private companies.

The occupational condition of the 51 cases of city wives from countryside in the survey is as follows：10 unemployed persons，3 company employees，19 self-employed persons and 19 temporary workers.

From the aspect of employment situation，most city wives from countryside are informally employed.From the aspect of occupational stratification，their economic income，power and status and social prestige are in the lower class of the society.Their employment status leads to lower income level and lack of labor guarantee，which would inevitably affect their status in the family and social structure.Then what is the reason for the dependent status of young city wives from countryside？

“The lower the educational level is，the bigger the dependency or blindness of migration is，and the lower class of the migration hierarchy is，which is manifested in the marriage reasons，family reasons and engagement in trade and other factors as the subjects of prompting migration and mobility.”〔5〕On the whole，city wives from countryside have a low education level.Among 51 individual cases，9 women have just a primary school education，28 junior high school education，11 senior high school education and 3 college education （non-full-time junior college）.In big cities with fast economic development and fierce competition，the city wives from countryside with lower educational level lack competitiveness，making them unable to compete with urban women with higher educational level，and therefore it is difficult for them to get higher and stable income.

In addition，the social role arrangement also makes city wives from countryside in a dependent position.The traditional society confines females in the private sphere and prevents them getting economic and personality independence.Although women in modern society are emancipated to a certain extent，they are still discriminated in many respects on the whole and inferior in social status.As for city wives from countryside，due to the past rural identity，they are much despised by their husbands’families directly.As their husbands’families are at the bottom of the city and have more old concepts and habits，city wives from countryside are likely to face double discrimination，in one aspect，due to their past identities，and in the other aspect，due to their female roles.The survey found that most city wives from countryside carried a heavy burden of taking care of their families and children，and the overweight family burden put them at a disadvantage in the personal mobility and employment while the economic non-independence aggravated their dependency on their families.

The survey found that some city wives from countryside were full-time homemakers.Actually，it is because they cannot find a suitable job or the household burden is overweight so that they have to return home.As the family lives on the income of their husbands or the pension of parents-in-law living together，their family economies are always at risk.Therefore，city wives from countryside in the secondary labor market，the informal employment state and lower economic status in the family cannot continue the upward mobility in cities.

2.Differences in possession of cultural capital and social capital cause differentiation of status of city wives from countryside

In the research on villages in cities，Li Peilin revealed the role of knowledge and skills in the social stratification in “villages in cities”，and “migrant workers”were classified into the“white collar”and“blue collar”due to difference in possession of“knowledge and skills”.〔6〕As for city wives from countryside，difference in possession of“knowledge and skills”also generates differentiation among them.Due to differences in the individual adaptive capacity in cities，the level of individual possession of“knowledge and skills”and personal opportunities，there are different levels of employment and family status in cities for city wives from countryside.According to the survey，city wives from countryside are divided into the following three classes：

（1）Upper class：Individual social economy in this group belongs to the upper class.Their jobs are office clerks and persons engaged in privately or individually-owned business，etc.In a family，both spouses are economically independent with rather high income and stable occupation as well as independent housing for small family and pension and medical insurance for individuals.

（2）Middle class：Individual social economic status of this group is at medium class.Their jobs are workers of private units and person engaged in small business with stable income，etc.They have individual housing or live with their parents-in-law.One spouse has rather stable job and pension and medical insurance.

（3）Lower class：Individuals do not have independent housing and can only live with parents-in-law.Both wife and husband are unemployed or one of them is unemployed and the other has unstable job.They do not have pension and medical insurance，and are supported by parents-in-law.They live with big pressure.Many of them are victims of domestic violence.

City wives from countryside are living a difficult life in city.Even if they do not suffer from the stress from their parents-in-law，various stresses from the cities are inevitable.As they become urban residence，they lose the simple life in countryside.Most of them can only leave in the lower class of cities due to various factors，depend on their husbands and parents-in-law in the lower class of cities and live with poverty and hopelessness，or even are reproducing such poverty.

Ⅳ.Conclusion and discussion

1.By realizing upward social mobility through marriage，most city wives from countryside cannot continue to move upward in the city

As they are usually undereducated，city wives from countryside lack conditions for job promotions in cities.The original social network which helps them marry into the city could hardly continue to perform their social functions to promote their social status.Further mobility of city wives from countryside in cities depends on resources regained and the network.However，as most of them married into lower class families in the cities，it was almost impossible for them to be provided with upper resources and network.Restricted by social relations in the cities，most of them can only socialize in groups of same social status.Life stress has made them difficult to promote their cultural capital with education resources in the cities.Therefore，after realizing their most important upward mobility through marriage，city wives from countryside suffer from social mobility disorder to an upper class in the cities.

Although some scholars start to study migrant workers whose social network has turned from emotional to rational with original social network members kept unmoved and who start to establish instrumental connections with officials and residents in the cities.〔7〕However，restricted by dual roles of female and wife among city wives from countryside，it is either difficult for them to establish an instrumental connection or unable to obtain social opportunities to make connection with groups that can provide resources in the cities.Major energy and time of city wives from countryside are spent on families，so they have the difficulty in exploration of new social resources or establishment of new social relations，which inevitably makes them lack resources and social network of upward mobility.

Shortage of opportunities for upward mobility for city wives from countryside on one hand is caused by individual factor and on the other hand by that the urban society does not provide mechanism and route for upward mobility.The consequence is that this group and their families are struggling at the bottom of the urban society，causing marginal urban families and unstable social factors to raise and grow，and further promoting the intergenerational transmission of poverty.Such consequence is a latent and deep-leveled crisis to both individuals and the society.

2.Only a few city wives from countryside realized continuous upward mobility after marrying into the cities，and such upward mobility is determined by their possession of human capital and social capital

In western social stratification theory，education level is often treated as a vital aspect for identity evaluation.The higher a person’s level of education is，the higher his/her social status，the higher prestige of his/her occupations，the more lucrative his/her income，and the higher his/her class in the system of social stratification is.〔8〕Among all the city wives from countryside in the investigation，only a few outstanding women promote their education level by afterwards study and realize upward social mobility.Such individuals possess strong learning and social abilities and also have social networks to further promote their social status，such as their husbands’families of higher level and relationships bonded at work.Development of city wives from countryside in the city not only depends on their quality，but also has a close relationship with the quality of their husbands or even the husbands’family in the cities.As high education level among their husbands and families in cities will promote further upward mobility for city wives from countryside，a few of them can continue to move upward in the urban society due to their own human capitals and social networks of their husbands’families together.However，for group of city wives from countryside as a whole，their upward mobility in cities is almost stagnant and hopeless.

City wives from countryside face multiple difficulties to move upward in the cities.Such plight is more of a systemic arrangement rather than consequence of individual factors.If household registration system makes city wives from countryside congenitally deficient，multiple segregation systems in the cities stop them from future growth，so a change of system is inevitable for breaking such plight of upward mobility for the group.

〔1〕Chase，Ivan D.，A comparison of men’s and women’s intergenerational mobility in the United states，American sociological Review40，1975，pp.483-505.

〔2〕Wu Wen，Sociological Analysis of Rural Female Marriage Immigrant，Heihe Journal，2010（1）.

〔3〕Zhao Lili，On Chinese Female Marriage Migrants：Retrospection and Introspection.TJU Journal（Social Sciences Section），2007（8）.

〔4〕Gu Shengzu，Contemporary Chinese Population Mobility and Urbanization，Wuhan University Press，Wuhan，1994，p.9.

〔5〕Jin Yihong，Urbanization — Another Opportunity and Challenge for Women Development，Collection of Women’s Studies，2001（6）.

〔6〕Li Peilin，Radical Change：End of Villages，Migrant Workers— Economic and Social Analysis of Chinese Migrant Workers into the Cities，Social Sciences Academic Press，2003.

〔7〕Zhao Lili，A Study of Social Support for Urban Female Marriage Immigrants— A Case Study of“Non-Shanghainese Daughters-in-law”，TJU Journal（Social Sciences Section），2008（4）.

〔8〕Xu Xinxin，Transition and Mobility of Social Structure in Contemporary China，Social Sciences Academic Press，Beijing，2000，p.273.