Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The International Monetary Fund predicts that Macao will be the richest place in the world by 2020. Because of this, Macao has become an attractive place for migrant workers to seek employment especially those coming from developing countries. Mainland Chinese workers make up the biggest number of migrant workers in Macao. However, the social or cultural integration of these workers into Macao society is not much of a task since they essentially share the same ethnicity and culture as the local inhabitants. Other workers who make up a significant number of the migrant worker population are those coming from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Nepal. This research investigates the attitudes towards integration into Macao society of migrant workers from these countries. It looks into the rate and extent by which these migrant workers acquire the local language, interact socially with locals, and their attitudes towards the culture, norms, and practices of Macao society. Through the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, this research also takes into consideration the cultural background of the migrant workers from these three countries and reveals to what extent it influences their attitudes towards integration in Macao society.