The US as a Promised Land for Brazilian Families

 Inclusion and engagement with the local communities

 Migrants are distinct in terms of color and culture, and this distinction can sometimes make them strangers. This problem is compounded by the host community's initial hostility toward all immigrants in any society (Mostafa, 2007; Rolfe and Metcalf, 2009; Pinto, 2009). This is also true for an established group of people in a territory who dominate by excluding and stigmatizing members of a very similar group known as outsiders who wish to change their previous territorial basis by relocating to the former groups' area (Elias and Scotson, 1994). It is therefore important to state that recognition of migrants' cultural capital is dependent on their membership, which can be obtained through citizenship in a political community or state. Walzer has argued that immigrant workers, whom he refers to as "guest workers," should be given the opportunity to become citizens. According to Walzer (1983, p. 60), 'they ought to be able to enjoy the protection of citizenship or potential citizenship'.


To claim a right to cultural capital, farm workers must be able to enjoy 'a full membership in the community', which Marshal referred to as citizenship (Marshal 1950; 1975; 1981), which entails rights and responsibilities. Because citizenship, as a legal and political process with rights and obligations, will provide farm workers with three important rights: first, civil rights such as free speech and movement, and the rule of law; second, political rights such as voting in elections or running for political office; and third, social rights (such as welfare, unemployment, insurance, and health care). As a social process, citizenship will place a greater emphasis on commitments, social and moral behavior, and farm workers' actions. Furthermore, a migrant worker must engage in a learning process to develop awareness of how to "contribute positively to his own community by learning about knowledge and understanding, skills and aptitudes, values and dispositions" (Mostafa, 2006/07:28). To become an active, informed, and responsible citizen, individuals must develop the skills to vote, run for political office, engage in politics, and participate in civic life and processes (2006/7). Citizenship can provide them with this opportunity to exercise their right to equality based on cultural capital and reduce their risk of social and cultural marginalization.

Inclusion and Exclusion


Social and cultural exclusion have an impact on migrant workers' quality of life, as well as equality, community cohesion, and overall integration. While it is important to recognize that such exclusion can make migrant workers' social and cultural transitions more difficult, exclusion from services is often discussed solely from the perspectives of migrants and service providers. While migrants' poor level of English has been identified as one of the reasons for exclusion from services, de Lima and Wright argue that migrants' access to services is shaped by a complex interaction of factors including 'a combination of communication difficulties, lack of awareness of entitlements and obligations, poor access to advice and support, location where there may already be a high pressure on resources and lack of support of an established migrant community.' Richardson and Lambert (1985) argue that hostility and intolerance arise as a result of the presence of an immigrant population in a stable host society with no major conflicts.Research has identified several reasons for migrants' exclusion from services (McAreavey, 2012; de Lima and Wright, 2009; Spencer et al., 2007). One of the issues that exacerbates migrants' situations is a lack of communication and language skills. It's no surprise that adequate knowledge of English and community life can help migrant workers gain citizenship, allowing them to activate their cultural capital and assert their equality claims.

Such a complex interaction of factors may have a negative impact on migrants' understanding of how equality claims based on cultural capital work in their destination country. 


While broader issues affecting migrant workers' social and cultural transitions contribute to our understanding of equality and cultural capital, little is known about migrant workers' experiences of inclusion and exclusion from the perspective of local communities. Such perspectives are important in determining how different actors interact and form positive connections with one another. This interaction and positive connections shape society (Durkheim, 1984 [1983]; Tonnies, 2002), without which conflicts and relationship failures between members of different cultural groups and communities occur. Such conflicts pose a new challenge not only to recent migration patterns and processes, but also to existing
Equality principles. Because claims against migrant worker discrimination and for equality between members of the majority and minority groups frequently arise in such conflicts. Claims raised in such conflicts frequently center not only on the importance of "understanding the way individuals and organizations actually operate across cultures, and the costs and benefits of these arrangements" (Levitt, 2004), but also on the urgency of actively ensuring equal valuations of cultural capital for both local and migrant workers, the latter of which is of particular interest to this study.

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