These three papers broadly seek to understand the causes and consequences of stratification beliefs, particularly for Black Americans in the contemporary United States. I begin by contextualizing the present economic moment as one shaped by "platform capitalism, " a new form of exploitation brought about by the digital revolution. I argue that this form of economic relations develops the "hustle ethic, " or a toolkit for individuals to manage inequality through extreme optimism, faith in the transformative power of digital tools, and a reliance on one's personal capacity to overcome structural barriers. Using social media data from the app Clubhouse, I demonstrate what the hustle ethic looks like for various groups across lines of race, class, and gender. In the following papers, I observe the hustle ethic as enacted by low-income communities of color. I argue that the present economic situation creates a vacuum of knowledge about how unequal society is, even among the most vulnerable. Through ethnographic research conducted over 18 months in Inglewood, California, I show how schools, government agencies, and social media share misinformation with Black and Brown workers, which causes them to miss the few viable social mobility opportunities that exist. Instead, institutions send disadvantaged workers towards hustle ethic rhetoric and a propensity towards risky entrepreneurial ventures. In the third paper, I consider the role of grit, or hard work and persistence, which is a core tenant of the hustle ethic and particularly emphasized to low-income communities of color as a social mobility route in and of itself. I argue that grit alone without a strategic occupational strategy yields limited benefits to Black workers; grit is no match for systemic racism. Still, through 87 in-depth interviews with Black and Brown workers, I show that these opportunity seekers show an immense amount of grit in the face of inequality.
