Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (2): 74-105.

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Relative Income and Subjective Well-Being: Examining Multiple Reference Groups of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China

WU Hania1, WANG Junxiu2   

  1. 1. Department of Sociology, Fudan University;
    2. Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
  • Online:2017-03-20 Published:2017-03-20
  • Supported by:

    This research is supported by the Major Project of the State Social Science Fund (16ZDA231).

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Abstract:

In spite of their lower socioeconomic position in comparison to urban citizens, migrant workers usually report higher subjective well-being. Two interpretations address this inconsistency between objective socioeconomic status and subjective well-being judgement:homogeneous reference group hypothesis (HRG) and the prospect of upward mobility hypothesis (PUM). These two theories imply that migrant workers may choose different reference groups when engaging in social comparison. On one hand, HRG suggests that migrant workers may compare their income with that of other farmers in their origins, therefore their lower income status relative to urban workers won't hurt their evaluation of well-being. On the other hand, PUM suggests urban workers are migrant workers' reference group, acting as a signal of their income status in the future; thus the positive effect from expectation of upward mobility would overwhelm the negative influence of current lower income status. Based on large-scale nationally representative survey data, we test the above hypotheses by constructing multiple reference groups of migrant workers (i.e. farmers, migrant workers and urban workers). Our findings support the homogeneous reference group hypothesis:holding one's own income constant, the more other farmers in same province earn, the less satisfied migrant workers are, indicating migrant workers' higher income status relative to other farmers has a significant effect on their subjective well-being. Furthermore, the mysterious subjective well-being premium of migrant workers over urban citizens shrinks dramatically, even to negative, after including the average income of their rural peers. Nevertheless, the prospect of upward mobility hypothesis is not supported:the average income of other urban workers shows no significant influence, and it may not result from the depressing effect of the prospect of upward mobility.

Key words: subjective well-being, migrant workers, social comparison, multiple reference group