It Sticks To Habitat - The New Generation Of Migrant Workers Resign Behavior

This article is based on the participating investigation of two electronics factories located in Dongguan, Guangdong province, as well as the in-depth interviews with the new generation of migrant workers there, attempting to reveal the subjective motivation and psychological mechanism of the new generation of migrant workers of their behavior to frequently quit and keep on flowing.With the new generation of migrant workers has become and is becoming increasingly the main portion of the labor force in coastal manufacturing industries, their group characteristics and flowing behaviors have gained growing concern; and especially compared with the old generation of migrant workers, their characteristic of "short-term laborers" presented in flowing behavior, that is a very short average duration of each piece of work and a very high frequency of changing jobs, is much more obvious than that of the old generation of migrant workers.The migrant workers group has been researched from all facets-on research perspectives, there are macroscopic perspectives of class, of subjective identity and of social security, as well as specific perspectives of their flow reasons, of consuming behavior, of marriage status, and of urban inclusion etc.; on research methods, there are documentary reviews and analyses, as well as questionnaire and statistics.This article takes the research method of anthropology qualitative fieldwork and use the firsthand materials collected from the two factories as a normal factory worker through which the author has gained an all sound knowledge of the production process, the management mode and the dormitory labor regime in those two factories. Furthermore, the author keeps a close eye on the daily life, the social network and the ways of entertainments of the new generation of migrant workers while participating in them, thus aims to understand their behavior and consideration, and to focus on the subjective motives of their behavior of frequent resignation and keep on flowing with description and explanation from an new perspective of research.The author believes that the frequent resignation and flow phenomena of new generation of migrant workers should be interpreted through multiple perspectives, that is, the factory conditions, the social context, the attitudes and the desires of the new generation of migrant workers should be put into comprehensive consideration-the production management system of factory provides the thrust of flow; the limited family responsibility, new media and social networks provide the foundation of flow; and the attitudes of the new generation of migrant workers towards current life and future plans make them treat flow as normal.Just like the purpose of earning money is not the only reason which drives those young migrant workers to leave homes and work in cities, the frequent resignation has multiple meanings in varied circumstances. It is an adventure for high payment compared with the low salary in factory, a temporary relax after the exhausting work, a while of leisure and recreation that they can enjoy outside the factory in the city, a refuse and appeal of free will towards the cruel managers, an escape from the hard and stressful factory life, a seeking for friendship and love lacked in factory. Above all these and in contrast to their parents, for the new generation of migrant workers, the behavior of quitting and flowing is assumed the main choice and final way that leads to a better life.