Using intersectionality to explore social inequalities amongst Christian family migrants in China

Abstract

In this paper, we explore how an intersectional frame offers new insights into the issue of social inequalities in relation to family migration. We bring research about family migration and intersectionality into conversation with one another by empirically examining the experiences of rural Christian family migrants in Shenzhen, China. We consider how neoliberal labour regimes and the Chinese state's project of building a secular and modernised state operates through an intersectional process of de-familiarisation that turns rural migrants into gendered, class-based, atomised labouring subjects. We argue that a more nuanced analysis of social inequalities in family migration could usefully focus on the intersectional processes within and among migrant families.