Social capital signifies a potential ability to benefit its owner in social networks and/or social organizations, the ability that often manifests itself in a person’s social relationships and/or social networks. Migrant workers’ community participation, which includes building social networks in and developing sense of belonging to the neighborhoods of their new residence, can develop their social capital and improve their quality of life. The development of migrant workers’ social capital, in turn, may motivate them to engage more actively in local services and voluntary organizations. In the West, community participation is an important means to empower individuals and communities.

China provides a different context for community participation. China has a limited history of civic participation. In recent decades, the country’s rapid economic growth and urbanization has driven a vast flow of nearly 200 million villagers into cities, who are usually called migrant workers. These workers, however, lack community participation partly due to some of China’s structural constraints such as the hukou system. Given these contextual factors, the West may have an inaccurate understanding of social capital and community participation in China. A pressing issue in this regard pertains to the factors that have effects on Chinese migrant workers’ community participation. This study attempted to offer some insights into this issue by making use of the 2006 survey data on 3,024 migrant workers in 7 Chinese cities.

The study yielded three key findings. First, community participation of Chinese migrant workers tends to be influenced more by concrete factors such as level of neighbor support and that of care from their neighborhoods. This is different from the finding of research in a similar vein conducted in Western contexts, namely that affective factors (e.g., mutual trust and place attachment) tend to have stronger effects on community participation. Second, difficulties in Chinese migrant workers’ lives reduce the possibilities for them to develop closer connections to their neighborhoods. Third, Chinese migrant workers are not accustomed to seeking help from their neighborhoods but are more inclined to depend on the government for support.

In light of the particularities of migrant workers in China’s context, two recommendations can be made regarding their community participation. Firstly, these workers’ concrete needs should be addressed first, which in turn can help them to develop stronger identification with their new neighborhoods. Secondly, governments at various levels remain a key player in developing migrant workers’ social capital and incorporating them into their new neighborhoods. Now it is not fitting that local communities shoulder the responsibilities in these two respects.