Skip main navigation

Cookies Notification

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience. By continuing to browse the site, you consent to the use of our cookies. Learn More
×

System Upgrade on Tue, May 28th, 2024 at 2am (EDT)

Existing users will be able to log into the site and access content. However, E-commerce and registration of new users may not be available for up to 12 hours.
For online purchase, please visit us again. Contact us at customercare@wspc.com for any enquiries.

SEARCH GUIDE  Download Search Tip PDF File

  • articleNo Access

    DIALECT ABILITY, CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND MIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACTIVITY

    The impact of dialects on entrepreneurship is an emerging research field, but what is the role of urban cultural diversity in the impact of dialects on migrants’ entrepreneurship is still unclear. Using the Chinese Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey, this paper studies the impact of dialect ability on the entrepreneurship activity of migrants in China and the role of cultural diversity in this relationship. We find that improving dialect ability can increase the probability of migrants to start an undertaking. However, dialect ability cannot improve the quality of entrepreneurship, as mastering dialects makes migrants’ entrepreneurship activities mainly concentrated in low-end industries. Heterogeneity analysis finds that urban cultural diversity has a negative moderating effect on the influence of dialect ability on the migrants’ entrepreneurship. The effect of dialect ability on migrants’ entrepreneurship is more pronounced for migrants who live on the urban fringe, towns, rural areas and migrate across provinces. The impact of dialect ability on migrants’ entrepreneurship is more pronounced in the provinces with low entrepreneurial vitality where migrants come from and in the provinces with high entrepreneurial vitality where migrants move in. The mechanism analysis reveals that dialect ability promotes entrepreneurship by expanding social networks and promoting social integration.

  • articleNo Access

    Zimbabwean Migrant Entrepreneurs in Kempton Park and Tembisa, Johannesburg: Challenges and Opportunities

    The study explores the lives of seventeen Zimbabwean entrepreneurs studied in Tembisa and Kempton Park, Johannesburg in 2012. It analyses the structure of opportunity available to these entrepreneurs and argues that although migrants can create employment, they do not necessarily benefit the local populations because their businesses are too small and also because of their reluctance to employ locals whom they consider lazy and troublesome. Zimbabweans originally migrated to South Africa in search of good salaried jobs rather than self-employment. Self-employment is largely a result of dissatisfaction with the conditions of employment, inability to get desired jobs and having a better command of human and social capital. These migrants have a short history in self-employment and are the first to establish such economic ventures in their families. Their businesses thrive because of hardwork, engaging in activities that they are familiar with (thus they do not venture into complicated, unfamiliar territory) and relying on the neighbourhood which serves as a market. All the entrepreneurs studied view South Africa as a land of opportunities where one can establish himself/herself and survive, although the environment is riddled with xenophobia. However, most can be classified as survival entrepreneurs.

  • articleFree Access

    How Much is the Consumption Potential of Citizenized Migrants? — Based on the Estimation of Migrants’ Income Elasticity of Demand in the New Era of China

    The economic development and urbanization in China have stepped into a new stage, and the style of migrants’ consumption has changed. We use nationally representative data from China Migrants Dynamic Survey (2010–2017) for the evaluation of migrants’ income elasticity of demand and data from Urban Household Survey for that of local citizens in the new era of China. The results show the following: (1) Migrants’ income elasticity of demand has reached 0.67 since the new era, presenting a sharply rising trend. In 2017, this number rose to 0.72, indicating that the overall consumption behavior of migrants tended to be localized. (2) Compared with the average consumption elasticity of local citizens (around 0.8), migrants’ income elasticity of demand was low, and still had room for improvement. (3) Citizenized migrants play a significant role in stimulating consumption. As estimated with consumption function, if citizenized migrants’ income elasticity of demand converges with that of local citizens, the total consumption will reach 15.8 trillion in 2030, equivalent to 9.3% of GDP of the year. The consumption growth directly driven by citizenized migrants is about 8 trillion yuan, equivalent to 4.7 percentage points of the GDP. Migrants are not only labor forces but also important consumers for urban areas. Therefore, to expand domestic demands and shift economic development paradigm, it is crucial to citizenize migrants as soon as possible by accelerating the construction of new-type urbanization and the reform of household registration system.

  • articleOpen Access

    The Borrowing Puzzle: Why Do Filipino Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, China Borrow Rather than Dissave?

    Despite their predictable and regular incomes, Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong, China commonly finance large expenses through interest-bearing loans rather than savings. Our analysis of survey data and records of a credit cooperative for migrant workers suggests that this cannot be explained by their inability to save, financial illiteracy, short time horizon, or limited liability. Instead, we speculate that the strict schedules and high interest rates of these loans create a disciplining effect that these individuals find desirable. This may help them avoid unnecessary consumption or demands from their social network. However, interventions should also consider that these workers often receive nonmonetary reciprocal benefits from members of their social network.

  • chapterNo Access

    Chapter 9b: Belonging and Communicating in a Bounded Cosmopolitanism: The Role of Mobile Phones in the Integration of Transnational Migrants in Singapore

    The unabated influx of transnational labour migrants has been accompanied by complex societal fissures, from differential policies to the creation of isolated cultural geographies. In Singapore, citizens voice their aggravation caused by transients’ lack of acculturation, and the resultant risks posed to the cosmopolitan vision of the state. We examine the intersection of transnational acculturation with mediated communication via mobile phones within the domains of life and work. Data from in-depth qualitative interviews (75) allowed for thick descriptions. We find that, despite encountering heterotopic practices, transnational migrant workers engage in a phenomenon we label ‘bounded cosmopolitanism’, or the ability to engage in learning, enjoy economic growth, and embrace cultural hybridity, to escape the shackles of race, class, and gender. Mobile phones play a significant role in providing open participatory spaces; yet; this phenomenon signifying openness, innovation, and acceptance is restricted to organizational workspaces. We therefore conclude with comments on the implications of applying management perspectives to broader societal challenges, and propose shifting of the discourse from the bounded confines of the organization to that of society.

  • chapterNo Access

    POPULATION

    Population study is a fundamental unit in social science. Demography concerns itself with the dynamics of population behavior, primarily with respect to the size and structure, as well as movement. China is the largest country in the world, with an immense population of more than 1.3 billion people today, which constitutes almost one-fifth of the world's total. China has a huge population, but a poor foundation with relatively inadequate and unevenly distributed natural resources. These are China's basic national conditions. Population changes may have profound consequences for a wide range of areas in sociology, demography, social policy and others. Insight into these changes is of great value for many purposes, and will benefit researchers and policy makers in different fields. This chapter deals mainly with questions of Chinese population, in particular, the size, characteristics, growth, and the factors affecting the changes in population.

  • chapterNo Access

    INTERRELATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL UNCERTAINTIES IN TRANSCULTURAL PSYCHIATRY

    There is increasing interaction with multicultural societies in the Western world because of migration. The mental health care services are still unable to provide adequate care for non-Western groups, partly because of uncertainties among health care professionals who come into contact with people from other cultures. This uncertainty has two sources, an interrelational one and a professional one.

    Interrelational uncertainty is the result of insufficient knowledge about the values, norms and manners of the ethnic groups. This creates mutual misunderstandings, which hamper the therapeutic relationship. This uncertainty can be resolved by providing supplementary training for health care professionals to increase their cultural competence. Professional uncertainty deals with the question of the universality and culture-relatedness of a particular psychiatric illness. It is now commonly accepted that the more severe the illness, the less the clinical picture is influenced by the patient's culture. Frequent intervision and supplementary training of professionals in order to reduce their own culturally-determined professional restrictions and prejudices may help to resolve this uncertainty.