Tied to each other through ties to the land: Informal support of black elders in a Southern U.S. Community

This paper is about informal support of older blacks in a rural comunity in North Carolina. It explores the use of various theoretical ideas related to reciprocity and exchange. The observed intragroup variation in informal support is categorized into six coping strategies, all related to whether or not informants own land. Landowning elders are able to obligate children and other potential helpers by allowing them to settle on their land. The resulting residential enclaves are important sources of informal support. In contrast, landless elders are tied to landowners and to each other in various kinds of relationships, and differ considerably in their ability to mobilize informal support. Geographical proximity emerges as an important constraint on helping behaviors, and the concept of delayed reciprocity explains some of the seemingly nonreciprocal exchanges.