Power & Moral Capital - A “Theory of Access” for People Receiving Public Assistance in Rural USA

ABSTRACT

In-depth interviews with people using public assistance in a rural place in the United States demonstrated barriers to accessing resources through formal work and self-provisioning and the ability to benefit from use of public assistance—low income means-tested medical, nutritional, financial, or other services from state, federal, or non-governmental agencies. The Theory of Access (TOA) was used as a framework to organize participant narratives and an intersectional perspective to a multidimensional theory of power was used to demonstrate how moral capital is levied and reproduced. Findings from the TOA revealed intersectionalities in barriers to accessing resources across structural, relational, physical, and psychosocial access mechanisms for women, particularly women of color with dependent children, pregnant women of color, and women with disabilities. While TOA demonstrated need for public assistance, the double power of moral capital demonstrated how the benefits of public assistance to human dignity and welfare were reduced by (1) disciplinary tactics to reject public assistance and (2) reproduction of broader moral imperatives. The connections between TOA and moral capital contribute an intersectionality approach for understanding the multiple disadvantages of people with the lowest incomes, which helps to explain low rates of self-provisioning and public assistance use despite high need across the rural Global North.

KEYWORDS:

• moral capital
• poverty
• power
• self-provisioning
• welfare

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the assistance of the Directors of the Departments of Social Services and Labor and Regulation and to South Dakota State University for funding our study. We are particularly indebted to the people who candidly shared their experiences, fears, and hopes with us. We hope that sharing their stories helps to mobilize greater support and understanding of the strengths and struggles of rural people in challenging times.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The precise location is obscured to protect confidentiality and anonymity.

2. Fishing in the city park is prohibited, but park employees often ignore fishing activities.

3. A participant with a disability not yet recognized by DSS as qualifying for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income.

4. The authors recognize our unintended role in representing the disciplinary surveillance of the welfare state in these instances.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the South Dakota State University through the FY18 Research/Scholarship Support Fund.

Notes on contributors

Candace K. May

Candace K. May is a Rural and Natural Resources Sociologist transitioning at the time of this publication from Associate Professor at South Dakota State University to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Her research examines rural people and places, natural resources governance, and the role of power and equity in how access, use, and allocation of resources produces rural community resilience and vulnerabilities in contexts of socio-ecological complexity from economic shocks, population change, and climate change-related hazards.

Julie Yingling

Julie Yingling is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice-Criminology at Lycoming College. Her drug related research explores botched lethal injection executions and veterinarians’ experiences with opioid diversion tactics from clients. Her victimization research examines public statements from public figures accused of sexual misconduct during #MeToo as well as women realtor’s experiences with sexual harassment and assault.