Political Participation of Rural-to-Urban Migrants: An Aspect of Social Network Analysis

With quickened urbanization in China, many rural migrants have settled down in cities. Their social inclusion in the urban communities and involvement in public affairs are crucial to the future urban development and social integration in China. Using the data of 2009 Shanghai Social Network and Occupation History Survey, this study empirically tested the relationships of social networks with the rural-to-urban migrants' political participation from the social network perspective. The following findings were obtained: The "New Year Greeting Network" has a negative effect with the political participation of urban residents (both those with regular urban household registration and those without -- i.e., the rural-to-urban migrants); the "Discussion Network" has positive effect on the migrants' political participation only; and the "Social Participation Network" shows the most significant positive effect on political participation for both urban citizens and migrants. And furthermore, Social Participation Networ