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Interactional expertise, forms, and the Imitation Game: the integration of migrants in Beijing municipality

This project is a study of the integration of migrant populations in contemporary China. The main objective is to examine how different groups in urban areas (especially ¡°migrants¡± versus ¡°locals¡±) interact with and perceive each other. Part of the project involves the development of software used to gather and record information on the interactions between one group of individuals and another.

The study of diversity, understood herein as variations in shared understandings between groups of people, is highly relevant for China since it is home to a very large and diverse population. The tremendous economic growth of the last few decades has been accompanied by massive internal migration, very rapid urbanisation, and the emergence of mega- industrial cities that house approximately 300 million mobile workers known as the ¡°floating population¡± (liudong renkou Á÷¶¯ÈË¿Ú).

In cities such as Beijing, groups of people from different backgrounds end up sharing the same space. However, they are often not regarded as residents: the household registration system (hukou »§¿Ú) binds them to their birthplace. The project aims to understand how these groups identify themselves, how they identify with other groups, and how far they understand the way those other groups live and think.

The project addresses these issues through a new and innovative methodological tool known as the?Imitation Game. Inspired by the work of famous mathematician Alan Turing, and adapted for the social sciences by sociologists Harry Collins and Robert Evans at Cardiff ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, it consists of conducting experiments between social groups understood to be different from each other (either by the researchers or by the individuals themselves, e.g., Catholics and Protestants, migrants and locals, and so on). During the experiment, members of two (or more) groups are invited to interact with each other by asking and answering questions and trying to identify who is who. The experiment is administered through specific software that regulates and records the participants¡¯ interactions.

The Imitation Game methodology is used to compare Beijing¡¯s native residents (i.e., holders of a Beijing ¡°resident permit,¡± or hukou »§¿Ú) with migrants from Hebei province (i.e., holders of Hebei resident permits). The members of these two groups are invited to ask and answer questions of each other and try to identify whether the questions and answers are from ¡°locals¡± or ¡°migrants.¡± The score for each group is subsequently analysed along with the sets of questions and answers. Along with Basile Zimmermann's waves and forms framework, the results of the imitation game are expected to provide a detailed account of the groups¡¯ shared interactional expertise (Collins and Evans 2002), and contribute to the identification of possible forms (Zimmermann 2015) enabling or preventing the integration of migrants in Beijing. To these ends, the project is also developing an app for the Imitation Game software that will be better suited to Chinese users and designed to collect the necessary qualitative and quantitative data.

This project is registered in??and hosted by the Institut Confucius de l'±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Gen¨¨ve. It is led by Dr.?Basile Zimermann?and prof.?Giovanna di Marzo Serugendo.?

For more information please contact the project's main researcher?Ozan Sahin.

Publications

Sahin, O (2021).?. PhD Dissertation. ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. Permanent link: https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:156249

Zimmermann B. (2018). " ". Asiatische Studien / ?tudes Asiatiques, 72(1), pp. 87-116.

Sahin, O. (2017).?????.?In?Blog Scientifique de l¡¯Institut Confucius, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Gen¨¨ve. Permanent Link: http://ic.unige.ch/?p=1131

Sahin, O. (2014). ????. In?Blog Scientifique de l¡¯Institut Confucius, ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ù¨¦ de Gen¨¨ve. Permanent Link: http://ic.unige.ch/?p=448?

Conferences

¡°Analyzing the Effects of China¡¯s Internal Migration Policy in Terms of Migrants¡¯ Sociocultural Integration¡±. Berlin Institute of Integration and Migration Research, Humboldt ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. May 2022.

¡°Analysing the Social and Spatial Segregation of China¡¯s Floating Population¡±. Les d¨¦jeuners sociologiques, Geneva School of Social Sciences, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. October 2021.

¡°Mobilit¨¦ en Chine contemporaine: les s¨¦quelles de la circulation des personnes, objets et cultures¡±. Summer classes organized by the Confucius Institute of the ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, July 2021.

¡°Imitation Game and the study of migrants¡¯ integration¡±. 17th IMISCOE Annual Conference, online panel. July 2020.

¡°L¡¯Imitation Game en tant qu¡¯outil de recherche scientifique¡±. Master class in Socioeconomics, Geneva School of Social Sciences, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. November 2019.

¡°The Serious Imitation Game: a methodological and educative tool¡±. Studies of Expertise and Experience Workshop (SEESHOP 11). ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Helsinki, July 2019.

¡°De la campagne vers les villes, et inversement¡±. China in One Day. Confucius Institute of the ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, Mai 2019."La culture flottante: transmission et ¨¦volution des formes culturelles dans la Chine contemporaine". Summer school, Confucius Institute at the ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, July 2018.

¡°La politique de l¡¯enfant unique et ses cons¨¦quences socio-d¨¦mographiques en chine¡±. Master class in Demographics, Geneva School of Social Sciences, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. April 2018.

"Three perspectives on the concept of culture". Annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Washington D.C., United States, March 2018.

"Migrations,?integration and 'cultural diversities': Understanding the migrants¡¯ integration in Beijing?through the Imitation?Game". Social Studies of Expertise and Experience Workshop #11, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, May 2017.

Social Studies of Expertise and Experience Workshop #11, with the participation of Melbourne ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Virginia, Arizona State ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Waterloo, Villanova ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, Manchester Metropolitan ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Helsinki, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Ottawa, Wilfrid Laurier ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, James Madison ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ (see the?). Organized by the Institut Confucius in collaboration with Cardiff ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ and Renmin ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½. ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, May 2017.

April 2017: ¡°Understanding ¡°cultural differences¡± in modern China through Imitation Game¡±.? International workshop for Imitation Game Local Organizers. Humboldt ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, Berlin, April 2017.

¡°The impact of different international programs on the students with regards to their acquisition of cross-cultural competences¡±. International workshop for Imitation Game Local Organizers, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Granada, March 2016.

¡°Waves, Forms, and the Imitation Game¡±, Social Studies of Expertise and Experience Workshop #9, School of Social Sciences, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Cardiff, United Kingdom, May 2015.

"Information technology, organization and social change in China" (see the?), followed by "Tacit Knowledge, Interactional Expertise and the Imitation Game" (see the?). Workshop, conferences and sociological experience with professors Harry Collins (Cardiff ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½) and QIU Zeqi (Peking ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½), organized by the Institut Confucius in collaboration with the Graduate Institute. ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, March 2014.

¡°Waves and Elements: Toward a new conceptualization of culture¡±, School of Social Sciences, ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½ of Cardiff, United Kingdom, December 2013.

¡°An inspection of the concepts of culture and interactional expertise¡±, Communities of Integration Workshop, Studies of Expertise and Experience, Arizona State ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½, United States, May 2013.

Software development

The Imitation Game 2.0 (March 2017)
Software for scientific research and social entertainment for Chinese users. The project is a continuation of a series of research funded by the European Research Council Advanced Grant between 2011 and 2016, initiated by professor Harry Collins from Cardiff ÓñÃÀÈË´«Ã½.