Experiences with Economic Assistance, Poverty, and Local Resources in a Peri-Rural Area of South Dakota

An interdisciplinary qualitative examination of the experiences of 27 people receiving economic assistance in a small South Dakota town revealed interesting insight into coping strategies unique to peri-rural areas. Results... [ view full abstract ]

An interdisciplinary qualitative examination of the experiences of 27 people receiving economic assistance in a small South Dakota town revealed interesting insight into coping strategies unique to peri-rural areas. Results indicate a typology of coping strategies across formal and informal means of assistance. Formal assistance was defined as resources derived from the County Department of Social Services (DSS), such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and food pantries. Informal assistance included legal activities, such as reliance on social networks and subsistence self-provisioning from gardening, hunting, or fishing and illegal activities, including “working under the table”, selling SNAP, or illicit drug activity. The informal coping strategies of research participants were influenced by the peri-rural characteristics of the study location. The study location, a small city of just over 23,000 is considered rural by the USDA and non-metro at the county level, but part of an urban cluster by city designations. The study site is approximately one hour from two cities, one similarly sized and one approximately seven times larger. The higher degree of diversity in amenities, services, and resources associated with legal and illegal forms of assistance available within the larger city were beyond the reach of most study particpants. The results of this study contribute to rural sociology, the sociology of natural resources, and criminal justice studies an understanding of how the coping strategies of the rural poor on welfare are shaped by the unique quality of peri-rural towns.