Stigma toward the rural-to-urban migrants in China: A qualitative study

The paper discusses the status stigma of rural-to-urban migrants in China from the perspective of social representations. Stigma associated with social status is frequently reported in academic community but there is little published information about stigma towards rural-to-urban migrants in China. The data were collected by open-ended individual interviews with 138 participants (60 urban citizens and 78 rural-to-urban migrants) in a general community in Tianjin city. On the basis of research data, this study identify, describe and analyze the structured content and meaning of social stigma towards rural-to-urban migrants which are entrenched in Chinese society and communicated by urban citizens. This study found the three dimensions (appearance, peril and origin) of stigmatizing conditions on rural-to-urban migrants from urban citizens. Interpersonal interaction of stigma between migrants and citizens are differentiation and labeling, linking of labeled differences with stereotypes, differentiation between ingroup and outgroup, involving experienced status loss and discrimination. And then, there are asymmetries between stigma and perceived stigma. The results show, the social stigma towards rural-to-urban migrants as a social representation is embedded deeply in the collective memory of Chinese society, and it is generated from, and dialogically interdependent with the socio-cultural context.