Academic Socializing Strategies As Social Capital: Migrant Families in Urban China

Background and Purpose China’s rapid economic transition in recent history from a primarily agrarian society with a planned economy to a market economy has contributed to a massive internal migration from rural areas to urban centers. Migrant families comprise the fastest growing segment of the urban population, and their children are becoming a key resource in future labor pool.

However, little research has explored the critical role of parental socialization practices on migrant children’s educational aspirations and academic achievement. Guided by Coleman (1990)’s social capital theory, this paper describes children’s perceptions of parent-child relationship in Chinese migrant families. It also documented the ways in which social capitals are accumulated and exercised by migrant parents to support their children’s academic performance.

Methods 30 Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 4^th to 9^th grade migrant students in Zhejiang China. A maximum variation sampling strategy was adopted to balance gender, family socioeconomic status (low, medium, high), and ethnic backgrounds (Han Chinese and ethnic minorities such as Hmong) so that a diverse and representative sample was included in the interviews. Interviews were conducted in Mandarin Chinese and were later translated into English. Students were asked to articulate their perceptions of parent-child relationships, what kinds of activities they share at home, and what kinds of strategies that parents use to facilitate their learning. For data analysis, content analysis approach was adopted by using a coding system to capture categories and themes emerging from recurring words and phrases.

Findings A major finding of this paper suggested that regardless of low socioeconomic status and educational attainments, migrant parents not only held high educational aspirations for their children, but also were actively engaged with their learning and development in school. Migrant parents utilized different academic socialization strategies as means to transfer social capitals to improve their children’s academic excellence. Findings also suggested that family social capitals could be manifested in different forms (e.g. utilize of social networks, inculcation of cultural values, as well as negotiation and warning) beyond what we already knew in non-migrant families. These academic socialization strategies were derived from parents’ incentives to motivate students’ academic achievement through communication of educational expectations and cultural values, as well as instrumentally use of social relationships.

Conclusions and Implications This study shed new lights on the importance of recognizing alternative forms of social capitals in migrant families. The findings also highlighted the essential role parental socialization strategies in contributing to migrant children’s educational aspirations and academic success. It is hoped that these findings will provide parents, school practitioners, and social workers with extra knowledge on mobilizing and utilizing family social capitals (in the form of academic socialization strategies) to facilitate migrant children’s learning in school.