Discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants: the role of the hukou system in China

PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e46932. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046932. Epub 2012 Nov 5.

Abstract

China's rural-urban dual society system is instituted by its unique hukou system. This system causes inequalities in social status between permanent urban and rural residents, and discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants is thus prevalent. A series of studies, based on system justification theory, sought to address the impact of the hukou system on the discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants. Study 1 showed that the justification of the hukou system could predict discrimination operationalized using a social distance measure. Study 2 found that priming of the proposed abolishment of the current hukou system led to reduced social distance. Study 3, using a recruiting scenario, further demonstrated that priming of the proposed abolishment of the system led to reduced discrimination in salary decision. Consistent with our predictions, discrimination against rural-to-urban migrants could be triggered by justifying the current hukou system, while priming of the abolishment of the system serves to decrease discrimination. The present research thereby sheds light on China's reform of its hukou system to achieve social justice and equality from a psychological perspective.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Humans
  • Rural Population*
  • Social Discrimination* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Social Discrimination* / psychology
  • Transients and Migrants / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Transients and Migrants / psychology
  • Urban Population*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the MOE Project of the Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences in University (2009JJDXLX001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71071021), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities awarded to Li Liu. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.