Evaluate Landless Farmers’ Life Satisfaction under the Compensation System for Land Acquisition: a case study of suburban Nanjing, China

Abstract

The aim of the research is to add some understanding to the levels, features, and determinants of landless farmers’ life satisfaction after compensation and resettlement for land acquisition. First, it examines what are the influencing factors on landless farmers’ life satisfaction under a series of compensation policies. Next, it investigates the life satisfaction level of resettled farmers in two urbanized towns of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in China. Finally, it figures out the cogent statistical relationships between a set of influencing factors and the surveyed satisfaction level. Survey questionnaire and statistical analysis are employed in this research. The study relates the overall life satisfaction of landless farmers to their subjective satisfaction with three dimensions of life quality, which are 1) material living conditions, 2) social security and employment support, and, 3) attitudinal perceptions, social relationships and participation. The results indicate that landless farmers still encounter various challenges in their urban lives, especially in the absence of institutionalized employment support and sufficiently established social security. Despite several policy reforms of the compensation system, resettled farmers still suffer interior forms of dissatisfaction from social and attitudinal perspectives.