Internal Migration, Social Exclusion, and Victimization

• DOI: 10.1177/0022427816676861
• Date: 01 July 2017
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Internal Migration,

Social Exclusion,

and Victimization:

An Analysis of Chinese

Rural-to-Urban Migrants

Hua Zhong

1

, Jianhua Xu

2

, and Alex R. Piquero

3

Abstract

Objectives: This article applies a multidimensional social exclusion frame-

work to examine Chinese rura l-to-urban migrant vict imization. Method:

Data from the 2012 China Labor Dynamics Survey is used to examine

whether Chinese migrants are more likely to be victimized compared to

urban residentsand to what extent the prior findings on the meditatingroles

of social exclusion between immigration and victimization can be applied to

understand Chinese migrants’ victimization. Results: Findings reveal the ele-

vated victimization risks among nationwide rural-to-urban migrants.

Logistic regression models find that social exclusion mediates the link

between migrant status and victimization and that social exclusion predicts

victimization. Conclusions: The discriminative institutional arrangements in

China are a major force of the universal disadvantages of Chinese migrants.

That is, it is not the migrant status itself, but the social exclusion suffered

by individuals that increase the likelihood of being criminally victimized.

1

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

2

University of Macau, Macau, Macao

3

The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Hua Zhong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 437 Sino Building, Shatin, Hong Kong.

Email: sarazhong@cuhk.edu.hk

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2017, Vol. 54(4) 479-514

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/0022427816676861

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Keywords

social exclusion, migration, victimization, China

There is an abundant literature examining the vulnerability of international

immigrants in Western soc ieties in terms of their hi gh risk of criminal

victimization (Zatz and Smith 2012; though see Kubrin and Desmond

2015). The high victimization rate experienced by immigrants is believed

to be one of the consequences of the multidimensional social exclusion (i.e.,

social rejection and spatial segregation) they suffer from receiving societies

(Fussell 2011; Sulkowski et al. 2014; Venkatesh 2008 ). However, there

remains a lack of research concerning the link between internal migration

and criminal victimization.

ThelackofresearchonthistopicamongWesternscholarsmightreflect

the nearly complete urbanization of their countries. For example, in the

United States, internal migration reached an inflection point in the 1980s,

subsequently declining (Molloy, Smith, and Wozniak 2011). Unlike

Western developed countries, large-scale internal migration in many

developing countries is ongoing, and internal migration massively

outnumbers transnational immigration in the current world (Bell and

Charles-Edwards 2013). In particular, many developing societies are now

experiencing large-scale urbanization and facing various crime and

victimization problems in this process, such as Turkey, India, Vietnam,

and China (Kusuma, Pandav, and Babu 2014; Nguyen et al. 2012; Sercan

et al. 2015; Xu 2014). More studies are needed to examine whether the-

ories and findings on international immigrants and criminal victimization

from Western societies can be applied to explain the pattern of victimiza-

tion for internal migrants in non-Western contexts, and China offers one

intriguing case study.

In 2015, China had 269 million rural-to-urban migrants, a popula-

tion almost the same size as the U.S. population. Along with its rapid

modernization and urbanization, almost all types of crime have drama-

tically increased over the past several decades (Bakken 2005; Liu

2006). Researchers in China have often argued that the influx of rural

migrants in cities is a main reason for this escalation (Ma 2001; Wang

2002). However, scholars and the public have long neglected to con-

sider that migrants also frequently experience victimization (Cheung

2013; Xu and Song 2005). More recently, researchers have paid closer

attention to the vulnerability of Chinese rural-to-urban migrants as

they are one of the most disadvantaged social groups in contemporary

480 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 54(4)

China (Pun 2005; Siu 2015). These internal migrants have been

regarded as foreigners and second-class citizens in their own country

(Solinger 1999) due to institutional discrimination and multidimen-

sional social exclusion (Xu 2014). An interesting and unaddressed

question, then, is whether China’s internal migrants face similar dis-

advantages in criminal victimization like international immigrants in

developed countries.

Although various victimization-related surveys, including the 1994

Beijing Household Victimizat ion Survey, the 2004 Tianjin Househ old

Victimization Survey, and the Annual National Public Security Survey

(conducted by the Chinese Statistics Bureau since 2001), have been con-

ducted in China, these surveys have generally neglected the victimization

experience and the preventive/risk factors among migrant workers. Inter-

nal migrants have been systemat ically excluded from researc h due to

their lack of official Hukou, or household registration system, in urban

China, a type of information all samplings relied on in previous surveys.

Although some research attempted to address the problem of migrant

victimization and the social exclusion they experienced in urban China

theoretically, data limitations have not allowed for a large-scale empirical

examination due to methodological and political challenges (Xu 2016),

until Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangdong began to conduct the

China Labor Dynamic Survey (CLDS) in 2012. Not only did the survey

apply advanced Geographic In formation System (GIS) sampl ing tech-

niques to survey migrant workers so that their sample would be nation-

ally representative, but importantly the survey also included a series of

vulnerability questions, including respondents’ victimization history and

deviant behaviors.

Using these data, the current study presents the first nationally repre-

sentative examination of victimization and its social correlates among

Chinese rural-to-urban migrants. Specifically, we explore (1) whether

there is higher risk of victimization among rural-to-urban migrants com-

pared to urban residents in China, and (2) if so, to what extent the prior

research findings on the mediating effects of social exclusion between

international immigration and victimization can be applied in the non-

West context of China. In so doing, results from the current study will

extend the nascent knowledge base by permitting a rigorous exploration of

the patterns and correlates of migrants’ victimization in China. Before we

turn to the results of our investigation, we provide an overview of the

theoretical and prior research issues on victimization and then within the

Chinese context.

Zhong et al. 481