Abstract
The chapter is a report on the study of Internet use and migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). First, this chapter illustrates that educational attainment is a significant factor in determining the type of Internet use that appeals to migrant workers. Second, it points out that both work-oriented and entertainment-oriented uses of the Internet have a positive influence on migrant workers’ jobs and social lives in the PRD. Access to work-related information improves their employment opportunities, while the various means of entertainment provide relaxation. The online chat and the virtual community provide migrant workers with emotional support and a strong sense of their local identity. The Internet café and online games allow migrant workers to relieve the pressures of work and passively challenge the power hierarchy in the modern factory regime. This chapter concludes that the Internet use has become the integral part of the city lives of migrant workers in the PRD.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See National Bureau of Statistics of China (2003)
- 2.
Data source: http://media.163.com
- 3.
See Guangdong Statistic Bureau (2005)
- 4.
Data source: 2006, The report of migrant workers and their mobility status in the PRD. Department of Sociology, Peking University
- 5.
Ibid.
- 6.
Data source: http://www.nmxxb.gov.cn/nmxxb_list.asp?Unid=3393
- 7.
- 8.
Ibid.
References
Bimber, B. (2000). Measuring the gender gap on the Internet. Social Science Quarterly, 81(3), 868–876.
Bonfadelli, H. (2002). The Internet and knowledge gaps: A theoretical and empirical investigation. European Journal of Communication, 17(1), 65–84.
Braverman, H. (1974). Labour and monopoly capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. New York: Monthly Review Press.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. R., & Robinson, J. P. (2001). Social implications of the Internet. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 307–336.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., & Shafer, S. (2003). From unequal access to differentiated use: A literature review and agenda for research on digital inequality (Working Paper #29). http://www.princeton.edu/∼artspol/workpap29.html. Accessed 25 June 2007.
Edwards, R. (1979). Contested terrain: The transformation of the workplace in the twentieth century. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers.
Guangdong Statistic Bureau. (2005). The report of corporation recruitment in the Pearl River Delta. Guangdong Statistic Information Web: http://www.gdstats.gov.cn/tjnj/table/gaishu_c.htm
Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B. (2002). The Internet in everyday life: An introduction. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet in everyday life (pp. 3–41). Malden: Blackwell.
Howard, P., Rainie, L., & Jones, S. (2001). Days and nights on the Internet: The impact of a diffusing technology. American Behavioral Scientist, 45(3), 383–404.
Katz, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2002). Social consequences of Internet use: Access, involvement, and interaction. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Katz, J. E., Rice, R. E., & Aspden, P. (2001). The Internet, 1995–2000: Access, civic involvement, and social interaction. American Behavioral Scientist, 45(3), 405–419.
Kraut, R., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B., Cummings, J., Helgeson, V., & Crawford, A. (2002). Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58(1), 49–74.
Law, P., & Peng, Y. (2006). The use of mobile phones amongst migrant workers in Southern China. In P. L. Law, L. Fortunati, & S. H. Yang (Eds.), New technologies in global societies (pp. 245–258). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
Lee, C. K. (1998). Gender and the South China miracle: Two worlds of factory women. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Li, Y. H., & Tan, S. (2000). Migration of rural people and gender. Beijing: Zhongyuang Peasant Press (in Chinese).
National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2003). The fifth population census essays (p. 280). Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Ong, A. (1991). The gender and labour politics of postmodernity. Annual Review of Anthropology, 20, 279–309.
Pun, N. (2005). Made in China: Women factory workers in a global workplace. Durham: Duke University Press.
Wang, C. G. (2001). The social identification of the new generation of migrant workers and its relationship with city-village merger. Sociological Research, 3, 63–76 (in Chinese).
Wellman, B. (2001). Physical place and cyberplace: The rise of personalized networking. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(2), 227–252.
Zhao, S. (2006). Do Internet users have more social ties? A call for differentiated analysis of Internet use. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(3), 844–862.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Peng, Y. (2012). Internet Use of Migrant Workers in the Pearl River Delta. In: Law, Pl. (eds) New Connectivities in China. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3910-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3910-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-3909-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-3910-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)