Unpacking migrants' social integration: The mediating effect of hierarchical migration in the context of China

Internal migrants in China, similar to international immigrants, frequently confront barriers that hinder their integration into their destination cities. Improving the social integration of these migrants has become a central focus for both policy-makers and academia, forming an essential element of China's new urbanization strategy. Despite the mounting scholarly interest in this topic, existing studies primarily focus on examining the influence of individual characteristics and destination attributes on migrants' social integration, but often neglect migrants' diversifed migration patterns along the urban hierarchy, which may affect the degree of social integration achieved by migrants in their chosen destination. This study examines how migrants' demographic and socio-economic attributes are associated with their hierarchical migration pattern and thereby affect their social integration based on the data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey. The results reveal a nuanced association between hierarchical migration (the difference in city tiers between the place of origin and destination) and social integration, characterized by a distinct nonlinear, inverted “U” shape. Importantly, this study underscores the pivotal mediating role of hierarchical migration. Individuals with different characteristics (age, gender, married, higher educational attainment, Chinese Communist Party membership, and urban hukou) made different migration choices, resulting in varying levels of social integration. Specifically, migrants who are married and possess higher educational credentials tend to move to bigger cities, which would hinder their overall social integration. This study deepens our understanding of migrants' social integration by highlighting the pivotal role of hierarchical migration, which can be traced back to a significant imbalance of regional development.