Sun, Yuqi;
(2025)
Grafted Beauty, Complex Identity: Exploring Female Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China's Beauty Service Industry.
Journal of Sociology
10.1177/14407833251352886.
(In press).
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Abstract
This study applies the concept of identity grafting, a dynamic process of selectively recombining rural and urban identity markers, to examine how young female migrant workers in Beijing’s beauty service industry negotiate identity. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, walking interviews, and participant observation, this research identifies four interrelated forms of identity − repressive, born-again, integrative, and situational − illustrating how migrant women selectively suppress, reconfigure, or hybridise rural and urban identities to navigate complex social and economic landscapes. This study demonstrates that identity remains fluid and strategically performed to mediate workplace expectations and class mobility. This research positions identity grafting, not only as a theoretical framework but also as a methodological tool for analysing the interplay between structural exclusion and individual agency. It offers a new approach to understanding rural-to-urban migration in the Global South and emphasises the need for policies that recognise the adaptive strategies that migrants employ to navigate precarious economies.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Grafted Beauty, Complex Identity: Exploring Female Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China's Beauty Service Industry |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/14407833251352886 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833251352886 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0) This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | rural-to-urban migration, female migrant worker, identity grafting, beauty work |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210941 |
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