Black Creatives in the Digital Platform Economy: Challenges, Opportunities, and Resistance Strategies

Description of research project:

This project examines the experiences of Black creatives in the platform economy, specifically in the creative industry. This ongoing project involves conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 Black creatives who sell their work online, including platforms such as Etsy, Shopify, and Instagram, among others. Creatives that have been interviewed so far include crochet artists, digital illustrators, quiltmakers, and portrait artists. The research contributes to the fields of racial capitalism, workplace precarity, andcritical studies on the digital platform economy. This project accomplishes this by asking Black creatives how they navigate their online and interpersonal experiences as gig workers and entrepreneurs. Concretely, we ask about experiences such as racial algorithmic bias in platforms, pay transparency and equity, employee benefits, and aspirations toward entrepreneurship. It addresses the existing gap in research on understanding the racialized experiences of Black creatives in the platform economy by conducting a thematic analysis ofinterviews. This study contribute to this body of knowledge by studying the factors influencing participation in the platform economy, the racialized challenges and opportunities they encounter, and the endurance strategies employed to navigate the emotional and social impacts of platform work.

Description of work that will be assigned to research assistants:

I need one or tworesearch assistants to transcribe interviews, conduct literature reviews, or some coding on NVIVO. There may also be an opportunity to do some data analysis.

Supervising Faculty Member: Dr. Jeffrey Morenoff

Graduate Student: Erykah Benson

Contact information: erykahb@umich.edu

Average hours of work per week: 10-12 hours per week

Range of credit hours students can earn: 4 Credits

Number of positions available: 1-2