Implication of rural urbanization with place-based entitlement for social inequality in China

Social inequality and spatial differentiation are not uncommon in the China's cities where discrimination against rural-urban migrants is institutionalized by the hukou system. In the dynamically growing regions where industrialization and urbanization are driven by both the urban state and rural villages, rural non-agricultural development has attracted an influx of migrants to villages to work in their non-agricultural sectors. Through an in-depth case study of Nankai in the Pearl River Delta, this paper reveals unexpectedly serious social inequality and segregation between the local villagers and migrant workers in the villages that are effectively urbanizing. Traditional rural egalitarianism serves village community members exclusively because of the institution of villages as autonomous and exclusive social and economic organizations. It is the land rent driven by urbanization as village entitlement that institutionalizes the inequality between the two peoples, and equality has been deteriorating along with the progressive urbanization as villages become a rentier class when land rent increases much more than wages do. Rural (urbanizing) rural (agricultural) divide and inequality is created by the place based entitlement. In the context of rapid urbanization and huge rural-urban migration, inclusive urbanization is imperative to get rid of inequality between locals and migrants.