Ana Motta-moss

Immigrant Service Organizations and Cultural Capital: the Environment As Precursor of the Transformation of Immigrants' Culture into Social Resources Ana Motta-moss

This study examines specific aspects of the environment of immigrant service organizations as precursors of the transformation of immigrants' culture into social resources. Specifically, it is proposed here that immigrant service organizations present an interesting case connecting cultural capital and adult immigrants' acculturation and related learning processes; that certain aspects of the cultural environment of immigrant service organizations have a strong contribution to the development of social resources among immigrants; and that these environments may mediate the negative effects (differentiation and exclusion) of unequal distribution of cultural capital inherent in capitalist societies, thus having strong implications for the health and well-being of immigrants.