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Study and School in the Lives of Children in Migrant Families: A View from Rural Jiangxi, China

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  • Rachel Murphy

Abstract

type="main"> Millions of children in China have been ‘left behind’ in the countryside while their parents work in distant places to support the social reproduction of their families. This article examines the role of study and schooling in this process. The analysis shows that family strategies to pursue socio-economic mobility are intricately connected to state frameworks for providing support, and schools are central to this. This is because both family and state interests in the attributes and prospects of the next generation converge in schools. At the same time, on a day-to-day basis, the labour of children in schools and the labour of parents in the cities are intertwined. Specifically, by communicating with each other about study, and by focusing on the child's educational future as the key purpose of their daily work, both children and parents carry out their obligations towards each other, while finding ways to cope with the emotional difficulties that protracted physical separation entails.

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  • Rachel Murphy, 2014. "Study and School in the Lives of Children in Migrant Families: A View from Rural Jiangxi, China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 29-51, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:45:y:2014:i:1:p:29-51
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12073
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jennifer Chen & Xiaodong Liu, 2012. "The Mediating Role of Perceived Parental Warmth and Parental Punishment in the Psychological Well-Being of Children in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 483-508, July.
    2. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China," World Bank Publications - Reports 3031, The World Bank Group.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tiantian Liu, 2023. "Real‐estate Boom, Commodification and Crises of Social Reproductive Institutions in Rural China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(3), pages 543-569, May.
    2. Hou, Wen-Peng & Tan, Tony Xing & Wen, Yu-Jie & Wang, Xue-Qi & Li, Xian-Bin & Wang, Chuan-Yue, 2020. "The effect of increased family finance and dual-parental absence since infancy on Children's cognitive Abilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    3. Tang, Zequn & Wang, Ning, 2021. "School disruption of children in China: The influence of parents’ rural–urban migration," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Ming Wen & Weidong Wang & Neng Wan & Dejun Su, 2020. "Family Income and Student Educational and Cognitive Outcomes in China: Exploring the Material and Psychosocial Mechanisms," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Wei, Yanning & Gong, Yue, 2019. "Understanding Chinese rural-to-urban migrant children’s education predicament: A dual system perspective," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Hok Bun Ku & Karita Kan, 2020. "Social work and sustainable rural development: The practice of social economy in China," International Journal of Social Welfare, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 346-355, October.
    7. Zhang, Yi & Matz, Julia Anna, 2017. "On the train to brain gain in rural China," Discussion Papers 252443, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).

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