Adapting to the City: The Interplay of Socioeconomic Status and Subjective Feelings Among Migrant Workers

• In Event: 40821 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11. Place and Wellbeing

Abstract

This study investigates how education and income moderates the relationship between subjective feelings—such as job satisfaction, living satisfaction, and leisure life satisfaction—and the overall adaptation to local life among migrant workers in a major Chinese city. Utilizing mixed-effects longitudinal panel data, we explore how individual perceptions and socio-economic factors interact to shape adaptation processes in urban environments. Adaptation to local life is treated as an ordinal dependent variable, while key independent variables include subjective feelings, education level, and their interactions. Control variables encompass job status, leisure activity participation, house ownership, income, subjective income, age, gender, and marital status.
Our findings reveal that higher education/income levels amplify the positive effects of subjective feelings on local adaptation. Specifically, migrant workers with higher education /income demonstrate greater sensitivity to job and living satisfaction in shaping their sense of belonging and integration. Conversely, less-educated workers show weaker associations between subjective feelings and adaptation outcomes, suggesting limited capacity or opportunities to leverage positive subjective experiences for smoother adaptation.
This study contributes to the literature on migrant adaptation by emphasizing the nuanced interplay between subjective feelings and structural factors, offering insights for policymakers and practitioners focused on urban integration and social equity

Authors

• Yingling Liu, North Central College

• Mingwang Cheng, Tongji University