‘Escaping’ managed labour migration: worker exit as precarious migrant agency

ABSTRACT

This article narrows in on the mundane yet extraordinary events surrounding migrant farm workers’ decisions to leave their state-approved employment and to seek a better life in Canada outside of state-managed circulatory labour migration. In so doing, this research contributes to conceptualisations of precarity, and of precarious status in particular, that are beginning to recognise its effects not only on workers’ economic survival, but also the more ordinary daily conditions surrounding workers’ sense belonging and personal autonomy. In their refusal to accept the terms of their contractual circulatory labour migration agreements through what is conceptualised here as an act of ‘escape’, workers claim a space of belonging that contradicts the precarity of their formal citizenship status. In carving out a space in which they may perform autonomy and self-determination in daily life, however, this rejection of contingent citizenship status intensifies the precarious material conditions governing workers’ relationship to the state.     

The relevance of institutions and people’s preferences in the PSNP and IN-SCT programmes in Ethiopia

The effective implementation of social protection interventions is key for achieving positive change. The existing literature mainly focuses on issues related to programme design and impact, rather than the factors that influence the emergence, expansion and provision of these programmes. This article builds on the recent literature that indicates that the quality of institutions and people’s preferences play an important role in the implementation of social protection. It does so by using Ethiopia and its Productive Safety Net Programme – one of the largest social protection programmes in sub-Saharan Africa – as a case study, thereby contributing to debates on how to implement social protection more effectively, particularly in settings of widespread poverty and relatively low levels of institutional capacity. Based on primary qualitative data, the article finds that greater institutional quality at the local level is associated with the more effective provision of social protection. The ability of community members and social protection clients to voice preferences can lead to adaptations in implementation, although the extent to which this occurs is highly gendered.     

主观感知还是客观责任? ——中国农民工作回报期望影响因素研究

理清农民工作回报期望的影响因素进而精准施策,对于破解城乡发展不平衡和满足农民对美好生活的向往意义重大。利用Multinomial Logistic模型和CGSS2015相关数据的实证研究结论发现:以主观社会经济地位和外出务工经历为代表的主观感知性因素是影响农民工作回报期望的关键,而以养老责任和未成年子女数量为代表的客观责任因素的影响则不显著。同时,受教育程度也是影响农民工作回报期望的重要因素,受教育程度为初中及以下的农民对生理回报和安全回报有更强烈的诉求。     

Producing mobility: visual narratives of the rural migrant worker in Chinese television

This paper employs literatures of mobility to explore the ways which rural migrant workers in China are represented publicly via television drama. Through an analysis of the popular serial Mingong, the paper examines the underlying politics of contemporary migration in China through three themes: the territorialisation of rural and urban spaces; the embodiment of boundaries via corporeal practices and subjectivities; and the politicisation of rural migrant desires. This analysis demonstrates the significance of television in crafting discursive understandings of mobility and migrants that are suffused with contemporary governmentalities of generating but also managing and excluding migration.     

Child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood: An integrative review

Social workers' constructions of children and childhood are central to how professionals interact with children and support their needs. The aim of this integrative review was to provide a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood. We analysed and synthesized 35 empirical studies with samples of social workers in the child protection domain where issues regarding the child or the child's situation were the study focus. The findings show that children and youth are constructed as a generalized group viewed in light of their parents. We see a fragmented and context‐free child produced by causal shortcuts strongly informed by specific and, at times, simplified and biased psychological knowledge. Moreover, we identify constructions of the child in need of protection and thereby position children as objects for intervention, separating that from children as subjects in their own rights. Although the participatory child is visible in the data material, the actual practice of involving children seems arbitrary.     

当代女性农民工媒体形象的变迁

围绕女性主体性视角,聚焦不同属性媒体建构女性农民工形象的话语实践,探讨了新闻文本呈现女性农民工形象的总体特征和社会逻辑。通过对2000—2019年广东省和江苏省4份代表性报纸女性农民工议题新闻报道（N＝2485）的内容分析和文本分析,研究发现女性农民工的媒体形象建构呈现出“主体性缺失”和“结构性弱势”两大特点。从报道数量上看,女性农民工议题的重要性经历了高峰过后逐渐下降并趋于平稳的动态变化。较之农民工整体,国内主流报纸对女性农民工“低度再现”。从媒体形象上看,尽管女性农民工行为形象的主观能动性有所提升,但“主体性缺失”的受苦受难者和被关爱者仍占比61.09%,价值形象总体上趋于客观平衡。党政机关报和都市报在女性农民工媒体形象和新闻结构框架上均存在显著性差异,这一差异彰显着形塑文本的社会结构性要素之间的张力。     

新生代大学生农民工城市融入问题研究

大学生农民工是从新生代农民工群体中分化出来的新社会职业群体。借鉴恩泽格尔的移民分析四维度模型,对其城市融入现状进行分析;根据社会融合理论三个层次说,剖析了阻碍其城市融入的因素。应从大学生农民工群体特征和其城市融入困境因素着手,政府应消除二元体制,排解“融城”障碍;高校应加大职业教育,强化实践育人;个体应注重资本积累,拓展就业渠道等,以圆其“融城梦”。     

元代墨工考

元代的制墨前承唐宋 ,后启明清 ,涌现出一大批优秀工匠。本文依据史籍 ,对元代的墨工进行了考证。     

漂泊的洞察——我的学术研究之路

本文作者作为中国恢复高考制度后的第一届大学生,以亲身经历讲述了其学术成长之路。其学术研究从五个方面概括:一是都市人类学,包括乡村都市化、城市少数民族以及传统乡村研究主题在城市的延续;二是农民工研究,从发起农民工研究,到散工研究,从"二元社区"研究到"打工经济"研究等;三是乡村研究,以凤凰村为起点,研究了岭南、中部以及西部的乡村社会;四是族群研究,以澳门族群研究为起点,对中国族群认同与关系作研究;五是应用研究。     

殊途与同归：两代农民工社会融入的比较 *——基于生命历程的视角

内容提要：本文以30名农民工的务工经商生活史的深度访谈资料为基础,从生命历程视角观照了新老两代农民工自外出务工、城城(乡)流动到选择归宿的生命轨迹。在社会结构及机会结构下,农民工社会融入是依循着年龄层级在一系列生命事件中依社会角色变化而进行反思性自我定位的行动过程。研究表明,两代农民工具有相似的生命轨迹,家庭角色的转变型塑了他们最终的生活期望和社会归属。由于新老两代农民工禀赋差异和代际特征,新生代农民工虽具有更多城市性和现代性,其融入意愿也发生了代际转变,但因其面对的机会结构限制和自身能力不足,其社会融入仍具有代际传承性。