Sustainable Development of Urbanization: From the Perspective of Social Security and Social Attitude for Migration

Abstract

At present, many developing countries around the world are experiencing urbanization, and China has the largest scale of urbanization. The current literature mainly focuses on the relationship between economic factors, environmental factors and urbanization, ignoring the human factors. In fact, whether sufficient social security can be provided to solve people’s worries, as well as people’s social attitudes, has an important impact on their migration from rural areas to urban areas. By using the China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2018 data and constructing a binary logistic model, this paper studies the impact of social security on migration from rural areas to urban areas, as well as the mediating effects of people’s social attitudes. The results reveal that: (1) Social security has a significant positive effect on migration from rural areas to urban areas. (2) The improvement of the sense of fairness, happiness and security is conducive to the integration willingness and identity of the rural population and promotes urbanization. Therefore, social attitude plays an important mediating role. According to our study, policymakers need to consider how to build a suitable social security system and make rural residents feel safe and happy, so as to promote the sustainable development of urbanization.

1. Introduction

Since the 1980s, China has undertaken economic reforms. The nation is on the cusp of a new wave of opening-up marked by proactive initiatives to deepen integration even further. Since then, the process of industrialization, urbanization and market orientation has accelerated. Agricultural production technology underwent transformation and upgrading. A large amount of surplus labor appeared in rural areas. The relationship between urban and rural areas has changed. In this context, many farmers leave the countryside and go to the cities. The reform of China’s rural economic system consists of three stages, which are labelled as “household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output”, “nonagricultural workers working near their rural homes”, and “rural laborers who leave the countryside for non-farm jobs in cities”. After going through these three stages, China achieved more rapid urbanization and moved further toward more sustainable urbanization.

Insisting on promoting the urbanization of the agricultural population is the primary task of new-type urbanization. This involves promoting the equalization of essential public services in cities and towns, improving the supporting policy system for the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population and promoting the effective integration of the agricultural transfer population into cities.

A significant difference between China and developed Western countries is that developed countries have a higher rate of urbanization. On this basis, they have a much better social security system. Social security has its origins in the West. There are certain restrictions on who can be covered by social security in developed countries. However, after adding various assurance policies, it includes all citizens. Due to the unbalanced development of various regions in the country, social security coverage can be limited only to urban workers and their families before expanding to all citizens in China. Since the gradual urbanization of China, the scope of social security that China can provide its citizens has gradually expanded. Social security expenditures have been increasing (as shown in Figure 1) with the participation rate of pension insurance and social insurance increasing year by year (as shown in Figure 2 (data for Figure 1 and Figure 2 are from the National Bureau of Statistics of China)). The scientific and reasonable use of social security expenditure is the key to promoting sustainable economic development [1]. The continuous improvement of social security is conducive to promoting sustainable social development and facilitating China’s progress toward developed countries.

China has entered a new stage of development, and the new type of urbanization achieved new results in 2021. By the end of 2021, the national urbanization rate of the resident population had reached 64.72%. The urbanization rate of the household population was 46.7%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from the previous year (these data come from the National Bureau of Statistics of China). Nevertheless, the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population is no longer just a matter of household registration; at this stage, the agricultural transfer population still does not enjoy the same benefits as urban residents. With the change in the leading social contradictions, more and more agricultural migrants have started to pay more attention to social security issues. The social attitudes of agricultural migrants are also changing. The improvement of social security and the change in social attitudes are closely related to the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Therefore, in the context of China’s initial urbanization, it is particularly significant to study the impact of social security on the intentions of the migrant agricultural population to obtain permanent urban residency and the mediating effect of social attitudes. It is conducive to facilitate policymakers establishing a more rational and effective social security system, leading to sustainable urbanization.

The term “agricultural migrants” was first introduced in China and is generally referred to in Western countries as “urban migrants [2]” or “agricultural migrants [3]”. The scope of migration is very broad, but this study focuses on “agricultural migration”. Compared with “migrant workers”, “agricultural migrant population” has a richer connotation. The term “migrant workers” generally refers to rural laborers who have rural household registration and work in cities. At the same time, “agricultural transfer population” is a combination of surplus laborers transferred from rural areas to cities, laborers working in non-agricultural jobs in rural areas and non-laborers who follow them to cities [4]. The term “the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population” first appeared in the report of the 18th Party Congress, which explicitly proposed to “promote the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population in an orderly manner”. The citizenship of the migrant agricultural population is a unique national strategy that has emerged in China. This strategy stems from the semi-citizenship phenomenon of “shifted territory but unchanged status” brought about by the constraints of the urban-rural dichotomy in China [5]. In essence, the citizenship of agricultural migrants is a process of transferring the agricultural population from rural to urban areas and gradually turning them into urban residents [6]. This process includes transforming the geographical area, industry and identity of the migrant population and the transformation of ideology [7]. In studies on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, the main focus has been on the study of factors affecting the willingness of the agricultural transfer population to become citizens. As early as 2012, Willmore proposed that household registration, age, housing and social status affect the willingness of the rural population to transfer based on the human capital perspective [8]. Several scholars have noted the hindering effect of the household registration system on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population [9]. Furthermore, opening up the household registration system is conducive to increasing the willingness of the agricultural transfer population to obtain permanent urban residency [10]. Accordingly, most scholars’ studies on the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population have focused on various factors that influence the willingness of the agricultural transfer population to have permanent urban residency.

However, the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population is not only about opening up the household registration system and promoting the identity change of the agricultural transfer population. More importantly, it is to promote the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population in multiple areas such as public services, social security and urban integration. This way ensures that the agricultural transfer population enjoys the same benefits as urban citizens in several areas, including social security [11]. With the development of urbanization, social inequities often emerge [12,13,14], and this phenomenon is particularly evident in China. This phenomenon is because China’s dual structure of urban and rural areas has led to a dual social security system. Moreover, the household registration system in China is closely related to social security. This dual structure system makes it impossible for agricultural migrants registered in rural areas to pay for health insurance [15] and pension insurance [16] in cities and to enjoy the same benefits as urban citizens. Therefore, it has been suggested that promoting sustainable urbanization is conducive to alleviating social inequities, providing better access to social welfare and protecting human well-being [17]. At the same time, there are problems such as low participation rates and low awareness of social security among migrant workers in China [18]. The social injustice brought about by the violation of social security and welfare has led to a fear of the future among the migrant agricultural workers. This fear plays a radical role in labor resistance [19]. Thus, research on the citizenship of agricultural migrants in terms of social attitudes has emerged. For example, Sun Yiping pointed out that the perception of social equity can indirectly promote the citizenship of agricultural migrants by improving their sense of well-being [20]. On many issues, including “citizen security and social equity”, we have found many scholars in the academy who are good at using different indexical methods and realistic data to study the problem of citizen survival in the world [21,22,23]. These studies also provide very informative research ideas for our study in this paper.

Among the existing studies, most of them analyze the impact of social security and social attitudes on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population separately. Few studies on the impact of social security on the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population have considered the mediating role of social attitudes. Thus, there is value in studying the impact of social security on the citizenization of agricultural migrants, using social attitudes as a mediating effect. On this basis, the study will further consider the role of the findings on the sustainable development of cities.

2. Theoretical Mechanism and Hypothesis

Agriculture is the essential business of “people”, and it is a matter of “people’s” development. The phenomenon of population transfer occurs due to the internal and external influences of “people’s” environment and thinking. The phenomenon of population transfer is a subjective and dynamic behavior resulting from the internal and external influences of the environment and the thinking of “people”. The ultimate purpose of studying the factors that affect the citizenship of the migrant agricultural population is to promote the integration of the migrant agricultural population into the city, which, in turn, promotes the sustainable development of urbanization.

According to the “push-pull” theory, the phenomenon of agricultural migration from rural to urban areas occurs due to the combined effect of rural push and urban pull. Fang Yongli and Hu Xueping suggest that the low per capital income in rural areas is the critical push force. In contrast, the urban-rural income gap is the critical pull force, and the superposition of the two effects makes the rural population move to cities [24]. Ruan Haibo found that the full force of policy integration support is the highest and migrant workers are more sensitive to employment equity [25]. Chen Yi-You and Zhang Bang-Hui showed that rural cooperative medical care and pension insurance are critical driving forces of rural labor mobility [26]. However, when migrant workers are in a unique period, i.e., their life expectations and identity orientation have shifted, the reasoning and pull force will lose effectiveness [27]. Additionally, better health and higher education are also vital push forces for rural residents to migrate [28]. According to the theory of urban-rural integration, urban-rural integration plays a crucial role in breaking the urban-rural dual structure and promoting coordinated urban-rural development. Through his research, Zhang Mingdu found that the segmentation of the urban-rural dual system and the system’s fragmentation have led to the lack of a social security system for the migrant agricultural population group [29]. This phenomenon is due to not only the increase in the urban-rural gap due to the urban-rural dual structure but also the inadequate social security policies for migrant workers [30]. Therefore, based on this theory, the hypothesis is proposed.

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

Social security has a positive effect on the citizenship of agricultural migrants.

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

Social attitudes play an important mediating role between social security and the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population.

The construction model is illustrated below (as shown in Figure 3).

3. Analysis of the Impact of Social Security on the Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants

3.1. Data Source and Sample Situation

The Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) is organized and collected by the Data Survey Center of Renmin University of China, which covers the whole country. As a comprehensive and continuous academic survey project, its data collection scope includes multiple levels and fields, such as society, community, family and individual. The data used in this study are from CGSS 2018 data (due to the continuity and extension of its survey, CGSS 2018 data are the latest public data available). The CGSS project covers 534 villages and residences in 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions throughout China, and a total of 12,787 valid questionnaires were obtained. In this study, the CGSS data were screened with the actual situation, after excluding irrelevant and invalid samples. A total of 2317 valid samples were finally obtained.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the sample.

Classification	Name	Frequency (People)	Proportion (%)
Gender	Male	1049	45.3
	Female	1268	54.7
Ethnicity	Ethnic Minorities	112	4.8
	Han	2205	95.2
Political Appearance	Non-communist party members	1992	86.0
	Communist Party member	325	14.0
Household registration status	Agricultural household	1057	45.6
	Non-agricultural household	1260	54.4
Religious beliefs	No religious affiliation	2101	90.7
	Religious	216	9.3
Education level	No education whatsoever	146	6.3
	Private schools, literacy classes	14	0.6
	Primary school	349	15.1
	Junior high school	701	30.3
	Vocational high school	47	2.0
	General high school	291	12.6
	Secondary school	157	6.8
	Technical school	11	0.5
	University college (adult higher education)	87	3.8
	University specialties (formal higher education)	167	7.2
	Undergraduate (adult higher education)	82	3.5
	Undergraduate (regular higher education)	222	9.6
	Graduate student and above	43	1.9

shows the basic situation of the sample. This table shows that the proportion of men and women in the agricultural transfer population in this study is relatively balanced. Males accounted for 45.3% and females accounted for 54.7%. The agricultural transfer population was predominantly Han Chinese, accounting for 95.2%, while ethnic minorities accounted for only 4.8%. In terms of political outlook, only 14% of the agricultural migrant population were members of the Communist Party of China. Most of the agricultural migrant population had no religious beliefs in terms of religious beliefs, accounting for 90.7%. In terms of educational attainment, the quality of the agricultural transfer population was generally low. Among the surveyed people, the agricultural transfer population with higher education (undergraduate degree or above) was less than 30%.

3.2. Variable Definitions

3.2.1. Explained Variables

The explained variable is the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population (as shown in

Table 2. Variable assignment and descriptive analysis.

Variable Name	Assignment	Maximum Value	Minimum Value	Average Value	Standard Deviation
Explained variables
Citizenship of Agricultural Transfer Population *	People without obtained permanent urban residency = 0; People with obtained permanent urban residency = 1	1	0	0.544	0.498
Explanatory variables
Social Security
Medical Insurance	Not participating = 0; Participating = 1	1	0	0.891	0.311
Old-age Insurance	Not participating = 0; Participating = 1	1	0	0.719	0.450
Intermediate variables
Social Attitude
Fairness Perception	Very unfair = 1; Fairly unfair = 2; Fair = 3; Fair = 4; Very fair = 5	5	1	3.170	0.999
Happiness Perception	Very unhappy = 1; Relatively unhappy = 2; Average = 3; Relatively happy = 4; Very happy = 5	5	1	3.927	0.768
Trust Perception	Strongly disagree = 1; Relatively disagree = 2; Generally = 3; Relatively agree = 4; Strongly agree = 5	5	1	3.508	1.005
Security Perception	Strongly disagree = 1; Relatively disagree = 2; Generally = 3; Relatively agree = 4; Strongly agree = 5	5	1	3.046	1.047
Control variables
Gender	Female = 0; Male = 1	1	0	0.453	0.497
Ethnicity	Ethnic Minority = 0; Han Chinese = 1	1	0	0.952	0.214
Political Appearance	Non-Communist = 0; Communist = 1	1	0	0.140	0.347
Religious beliefs	No religion = 0; Religion = 1	1	0	0.093	0.291
Health Status	Very unhealthy = 1; Relatively unhealthy = 2; Average = 3; Relatively healthy = 4; Very healthy = 5	5	1	3.745	0.988
Education level	No education = 0; Private school = 1; Elementary school = 2; Junior high school = 3; General high school = 4; Vocational high school = 5; Secondary school = 6; Technical school = 7; University college (adult higher education) = 8; University college (regular higher education) = 9; University undergraduate (adult higher education) = 10; University undergraduate (regular higher education) = 11; Postgraduate and above = 12	12	0	4.943	3.329

* This means that people who move to cities from rural areas obtain permanent urban residency.

). The citizenship of the agricultural transfer population means that people who move to cities from rural areas obtain permanent urban residency. The agricultural transfer population refers to the population moving from rural to urban areas. The data source is the questionnaire, “What is your hukou registration status?”. The mean value of the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population is 0.544, which means that among the 2317 valid questionnaires, the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population accounted for 54.4%. The transfer population citizenship accounted for 54.4%, indicating that the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population still needs to be strengthened.

3.2.2. Explanatory Variables

The explanatory variable is social security. Social security is a system in which the state and society, through legislation, allocate and redistribute national income and guarantee the fundamental right to life for the members of society, especially those who have particular difficulties. The data source is the questionnaire, “Are you currently participating in the following social security programs?”. Social security is the bottom line and principle to guarantee fair rights, opportunities and rules. Social security for the agricultural migrant population covers various aspects such as social insurance, children’s education and employment security. However, this study’s definition of social security refers to Zhang Wenwu’s study and mainly considers two aspects of social insurance, namely, medical insurance and pension insurance. Having either urban basic medical insurance, new rural cooperative medical insurance or publicly funded medical care is considered medical insurance. Having one urban and rural basic pension insurance is considered pension insurance. The mean values of medical insurance and pension insurance are 0.891 and 0.719, respectively, indicating that 89.1% of the agricultural migrant population has medical insurance and 71.9% has pension insurance. This study adopts the equal weight method to integrate medical insurance and unemployment insurance into the social security participation degree by referring to Wang Guixin’s study with the following formula [31].

$$SS{P}_i={\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^{2}S{S}_i\times 0.5$$

(1)

where SSP_i denotes the Social Security Participation and SS_i denotes the assigned values of this study for health insurance and pension insurance.

3.2.3. Mediating Variables

The mediating variable is social attitude. Social attitude refers to the internal psychological state with a particular structure and comparative stability held by individuals towards social existence. The data source is the questionnaire, “Do you think the society is fair today?”, “Do you think you are happy in your life?”, “Do you agree that most people in this society can be trusted?” and “Do you agree that people will try to take advantage of you in this society if you are not careful?”. The definition of social attitudes in this study refers to Li Peilin’s study and combines it with the specific situation of the survey [32]. Social attitudes are measured by the following four observed variables: perception of fairness, perception of happiness, perception of trust and perception of safety. The mean values of the perception of fairness, perception of happiness, perception of trust and perception of safety were 3.170, 3.927, 3.508, and 3.046, respectively, indicating that the perception of fairness, perception of happiness, perception of trust and perception of safety were average among the agricultural transfer population.

3.2.4. Control Variables

The control variables are gender, ethnicity, political affiliation, religious belief, health status and education level. The mean value of gender was 0.453, indicating that the surveyed agricultural migrant population is balanced between men and women. The mean value of nationality was 0.952, indicating that most of the agricultural transfer population is Han Chinese. The mean value of political outlook was 0.140, indicating that only a small number of agricultural migrants are members of the Communist Party. The mean value of religious belief was 0.093, indicating that most of the agricultural transfer population has no religious belief. The mean value of health status was 3.745, indicating that the health status of the agricultural transfer population is average. The mean value of education level was 4.943, indicating that the education level of the agricultural transfer population is generally low.

3.3. Model Construction

3.3.1. The Influence of Social Security on the Citizenship of the Agricultural Transfer Population

In this study, the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population is selected as the dependent variable. Since the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population is a dichotomous variable, a binary logistic regression analysis method is chosen to construct a binary logistic regression model as follows.

$$Logit\left(P_i\right)=Ln\left(\frac{P_i}{1-P_i}\right)={\alpha }_0+{\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^2\left({\alpha }_{i}S{S}_i\right)+{\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^7({\beta }_i{Z}_i)+{\mu }_i$$

(2)

The dependent variable P_i denotes the agricultural transfer population’s citizenship probability, and SS_i denotes the social security variable. Z_i is the control variable. α₀ is the intercept term, and μ_i denotes the residual term. α_i is the regression coefficient of the social security variable, and β_i denotes the control variable, respectively.

3.3.2. The Influence Mechanism of Social Security on the Citizenship of the Agricultural Transfer Population

In this study, social variables are used as mediating variables (including the following three observed variables: perception of fairness, perception of happiness and perception of trust), and a structural equation model is selected to investigate the influence mechanism of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. The structural equation model is constructed as follows.

$$r_i={\alpha }_1+{\eta }_{1}S{S}_i+{\gamma }_{1}S{A}_i+{\mu }_i$$

(3)

$$r_i={\alpha }_2+{\eta }_{2}S{S}_i+{\mu }_i$$

(4)

$$S{A}_i={\alpha }_3+{\eta }_{3}S{S}_i+{\mu }_i$$

(5)

where r_i denotes the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, and SS_i denotes social security variables. SA_i denotes the social attitude variable. α₁, α₂ and α₃ are the intercept terms, and μ_i is the residual term. η₁, η₂ and η₃ indicate the regression coefficients of the social security variable. γ₁ denotes the regression coefficient of the Social Attitude variable.

3.4. Empirical Analysis

According to the constructed binary logistic regression model, the impact of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population is analyzed, and the fitting results are shown in

Table 3. Impact of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population (Exp (B) values).

	Independent Variable	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Social Security	Medical Insurance	1.611 **		1.538 ***
	Old-age Insurance	2.526 ***		2.017 ***
Control variables	Gender		0.752 ***	0.788 **
	Ethnicity		1.543 **	1.395
	Political Appearance		5.186 ***	4.417 ***
	Religious Beliefs		0.868	0.862
	Health Status		0.650 **	0.657 ***
	Education Level		1.103 ***	1.090 ***
Constants		0.400 ***	2.359 ***	1.090
Hosmer and Lemeshow test		0.602 ***	13.841	9.861

*** and ** indicate significant at the 1% and 5% levels, respectively.

. Among them, Model 1 estimates the impact of social security variables on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Model 2 estimates the effect of control variables on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Model 3 combines the effects of all variables on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. In the Hosmer and Lemeshow test, Model 1 is significant at the 1% level, indicating that Model 1 fits relatively well and can genuinely and reliably reflect whether social security variables and control variables affect the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population.

As shown in Model 1, pension insurance and medical insurance are significant at the 1% and 5% levels, respectively, and the Exp (B) values are more significant than 1, indicating that participation in medical insurance and pension insurance has a significant positive effect on the citizenship of agricultural migrants. According to the Exp (B) value, the agricultural transfer population who opted for citizenship by participating in medical insurance was 1.611 times more than those who did not participate in medical insurance. Most agricultural migrants are engaged in “high-match” “labor” occupations such as production lines, construction sites or some bottom jobs in the service industry. They are less able to cope with risks. Participating in medical insurance can alleviate the health risks faced by the agricultural migrant population with its protective properties and help to provide financial protection for the entire treatment of the agricultural migrant population in case of accidents or serious illnesses [33]. Therefore, some agricultural migrants opt for citizenship by participating in medical insurance. The number of agricultural migrants who opted for citizenship by participating in pension insurance was 2.526 times higher than those who did not participate in pension insurance. Pension insurance is the essential livelihood protection for the retired agricultural transfer population. When the agricultural transfer population retires, they have neither income nor working ability. It is vital to participate in pension insurance to maintain an everyday life in this situation. Therefore, participation in pension insurance is conducive to the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. On this basis, social security participation is significant at the 1% level. The Exp (B) value of 4.633 is greater than 1, indicating that social security participation has a significant positive effect on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population.

As shown in Model 2, gender, political outlook and educational attainment are all significant at the 1% level. Ethnicity and health status are all significant at the 5% level. This indicates that gender, ethnicity, political outlook, health status and education level significantly affect the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Among them, political outlook and education level have a significant positive effect on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. The number of the agricultural transfer population who are not CPC members choosing to opt for citizenship is 5.186 times higher than that of CPC members. The number of agricultural migrants with higher education levels who choose citizenship is 1.103 times higher than those with lower education levels. The country’s rapid urbanization is the key to China’s sustainable development. However, in labor migration to cities, the low-quality rural labor force not only makes it difficult to obtain permanent urban residency but also limits the effectiveness of China’s urbanization. Thus, the government should improve rural basic education programs through public financial investment and policy support to achieve more sustainable urbanization [34].

Model 3 combines the effects of all variables on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population and clearly shows the effects of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population with different characteristics. As shown in Model 3, medical insurance and pension insurance are significant at the 1% level, and the Exp (B) values are more significant than 1. This indicates that medical insurance and pension insurance have a significant positive effect on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population after adding control variables.

3.5. Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Social Attitudes

This study constructs a structural equation model with AMOS software to analyze the mediating effect between social security and the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, using social attitude as the mediator. As shown in

Table 4. Structural equation model fit indices.

Fitting Index	Fitting Results	Adaptation Standards	Adaptation Results
RMSEA	0.041	Less than 0.05	Ideal
GFI	0.993	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
NFI	0.955	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
RFI	0.921	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
IFI	0.964	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
TLI	0.936	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
CFI	0.963	Greater than 0.90	Ideal
CMIN/DF	4.952	Less than 5.00	Approach

, RMSEA, GFI, NFI, RFI, IFI, TLI and CFI reach the ideal fit results, indicating that the model fits well.

As shown in

Table 5. Structural equation model fitting results.

Paths	Standardized Factor Loadings
Social Security → Social Attitudes	0.184 ***
Social Security → Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants	0.279 ***
Social Attitudes → Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants	0.092 ***
Social Attitudes → Perception of Fairness	0.582 ***
Social Attitudes → Happiness Perception	0.434 ***
Social Attitudes → Trust Perception	0.530
Social Attitudes → Perceived Safety	−0.329 ***

*** indicate significant at the 1% levels, respectively.

, the perception of fairness, perception of happiness and perception of security are all significant at the 1% level. This indicates that the perception of fairness, perception of happiness and perception of security have significant effects on the social attitudes of the agricultural transfer population and can significantly promote their transformation. Social security has a significant positive effect on social attitudes and the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, all of which pass the significance test at the 1% level. The standardized factor loadings are 0.184 and 0.279, respectively, which indicate that an increase in social security participation can effectively promote change in the social attitudes of the agricultural transfer population. Participation in social security can provide adequate protection for agricultural migrants and help them reduce the economic pressure caused by illness and retirement and relieve the psychological pressure caused by illness or retirement. The alleviation of economic and psychological stresses can effectively enhance the sense of fairness, happiness and trust of agricultural migrants and thus promote the citizenship of agricultural migrants. The social attitudes of the agricultural transfer population have a significant positive effect on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, which passes the significance test at the 5% level. The standardized factor loading is 0.092, which shows that change in social attitudes is beneficial to the citizenship of agricultural migrants. The improvement of the sense of fairness, happiness and security is conducive to the willingness of urban integration and the sense of identity of the agricultural transfer population. It promotes the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Consequently, the government can mitigate social inequities by establishing reasonable mechanisms to build more sustainable urbanization [35,36,37].

As shown in

Table 6. Intermediary test results.

	Point Estimate	Product of Coefficients		Bootstrap 5000 Times 95% CI
				Bias-Corrected Percentile Method
		SE	Z	Lower	Upper
	Indirect effects
Social Security → Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants	0.024 ***	0.009	2.667	0.011	0.046
	Direct effect
Social Security → Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants	0.395 ***	0.047	8.404	0.303	0.491
	Total effect
Social Security→Citizenship of Agricultural Migrants	0.419 ***	0.047	8.915	0.329	0.515

*** indicate significant at the 1% levels, respectively.

, in the study on the indirect effect of social security on the citizenship of agricultural migrants, the confidence interval is 0.011~0.046, which does not contain 0. The Z-value is 2.667, which is greater than 1.96. Therefore, the indirect effect holds, and the mediating effect is significant. Based on this finding, in the study on the direct effect of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population, the confidence interval is 0.303~0.491, which does not contain 0. The Z value is 8.404, which is greater than 1.96. Therefore, the direct effect is significant, and the structural equation model in this study is partially mediated. This means that social attitudes play an important mediating role between social security and the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population.

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

4.1. Conclusions

Based on CGSS 2018 data, by constructing a binary logistic model and structural equation model and using social attitude as a mediating variable, we further analyze the influence mechanism of social security on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population so as to promote the sustainable development of urbanization. The following conclusions are drawn.

• Social security participation has a significant positive effect on the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Both participation in medical insurance and pension insurance significantly and positively affect the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population at the 1% level.
• Social attitudes play an important mediating role between social security and the citizenship of the agricultural transfer population. Social security has a significant positive effect on the social attitudes and citizenship of agricultural migrants at the 1% level. The social attitudes of agricultural migrants have a significant positive effect on the citizenship of agricultural migrants at the 1% level. Among them, the perception of fairness, happiness and safety have significant effects on social attitudes toward the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population.
• The findings show that gender, political status and education level are significant factors influencing the intention of granting permanent urban residency at the 1% level. Household registration and health status are significant factors influencing the intention of granting permanent urban residency at the 5% level.

4.2. Suggestions

Social sustainability emphasizes the role of social equity as a mechanism for sustainable development and ensures social equity plays a crucial role in sustainable development [38]. This provides some thoughts on the government’s “demand-driven” policy to promote the citizenization of agricultural migrants and the sustainable development of urbanization.

4.2.1. Construct a New Social Security System

At present, the rapid development of urbanization has led to the division and fragmentation of the urban-rural dual system, which has led to the imbalance of the social security system for the agricultural migrant population in China. Therefore, to promote the citizenship of the agricultural migrant population, the first task is to build an urban-rural integrated social security system for the agricultural migrant population, taking into full consideration the actual situation of the agricultural migrant population [39,40,41,42].

Firstly, the new rural cooperative medical system should be the leading system to expand the scope of medical insurance coverage and reimbursement. The reimbursement ratio of the agricultural migrant population should be increased, and the process of medical treatment and reimbursement in different places should be simplified. Secondly, take the new rural social pension insurance as the leading policy and deepen the reform of the urban pension insurance system. Thoroughly consider the mobility characteristics of the agricultural transfer population. Adopt a unique approach for the particular group of the agricultural transfer population. At the same time, improve the rural social pension insurance system. Third, build a new social security system with urban-rural integration, regional coherence, wide-coverage, convenience and efficiency. Promote the construction of new rural cooperative medical care and new rural social pension insurance digitally. Open up the transfer channel of medical and pension insurance between urban and rural areas. Clarify the procedures and processes related to the transfer, and realize standardized transfer. Fourth, the relevant departments should promote social security for the group of the agricultural transfer population. By urging enterprises or merchants with a sizeable agricultural transfer population to enroll them in insurance, they should increase medical insurance and pension insurance publicity. With the concept of serving the people, we will help the uninsured agricultural transfer population clarify the social security benefits to which they are entitled. In turn, this will increase the willingness of the agricultural transfer population to participate in insurance. Fifth, the government should establish a social security system for low-income people in need or for those who are poor due to sudden accidents or serious diseases. The government should set up a social security system to help the agricultural migrant population who are in a difficult situation to survive.

4.2.2. Promote the Equalization of Essential Public Services

According to the findings of this study, the perception of fairness significantly affects social attitudes toward the citizenization of agricultural migrants. It plays an important mediating role between social security and the citizenization of agricultural migrants. With gradual urbanization in China, more and more people have begun to pay attention to the fairness of social security. Due to the uneven development of various regions in China, there are still uneven and inequitable essential public services. For this reason, on the foundation that urbanization has been initially realized, promoting equalizing essential public services is the key to promoting sustainable urbanization.

First, the government should improve the public service supply system and build a uniform system in urban and rural areas. The government should ensure that the agricultural migrant population enjoys the same services as urban citizens regarding medical care and pensions. At the same time, they should increase the financial expenditure on public services, and expand the coverage of public services in order to achieve higher quality social security. Second, government departments should strengthen the supervision of industries with a high agricultural transfer population. They should increase the review of enterprises or businesses with a sizeable agricultural transfer population, regularly review medical insurance and pension insurance participation, and take actions such as fines for units that do not insure the agricultural transfer population.

4.2.3. Focus on Rural Primary Education

According to Model 2, the agricultural migrant population with a higher education level is 1.103 times more likely to opt for citizenship than those with a lower education level. The rural labor force is the mainstay of agricultural migration. It is crucial to focus on primary education for this population. The emphasis on rural primary education and the improvement of rural education levels is conducive to accelerating the sustainable urbanization process and maintaining stability in the long run. In turn, this will lead to sustainable social development.

First, the government should raise the importance of primary education in rural areas by improving the basic education system and increasing publicity on the advantages of primary education to draw the attention of the rural labor force. In this way, the educational level of the rural labor force can be improved. As an essential part of agricultural migrants, improving the rural labor force’s education benefits their acquisition of permanent urban residency. Second, policymakers should insist on giving priority to primary education. The government should deepen the reform of rural education and accelerate the process of education modernization. At the same time, the government should increase support for rural primary education, including policy support and financial support, and allocate various educational resources scientifically and reasonably. In these ways, the adequacy and timeliness of rural primary education resources can be guaranteed.