My social media platforms have recently consisted of three main concepts: people renovating their houses, other people upset and how others have renovated their houses, and people starting a business from their passions/hobbies. And while I do enjoy their quiet voiceovers, I can’t help but feel a chill run down my spine when I seem to associate my feed with the similarities it has with the gen Z side hustle trend.
We all remember the high energy videos of people urging you to seek out business ventures outside the corporate 9 to 5. The internet and its trends are nothing if not the repackaging of the same concept but with a different label. No one can deny that trends are cyclical. So while it seems we’ve gone further away from the thriving hustle culture of a few years ago, stepping towards slow living and quiet luxury, have we really?
I’ve seen TikToks of a jeweller maker deciding to start her own business after graduating with a master’s degree in an unrelated field. I’ve read articles of journalists turned freelancers. I’ve seen people become builders and landscapers to their own newly bought houses.
The do it yourself mindset is far from being gone. And while there is nothing inherently negative with wanting to gain an independent income or knowledge, there is something telling about why this tendency is so deeply imbedded into our culture.
Spoiler alert - it has to do with capitalism.
Like many trends and iconic phrases, the term hustle culture comes from black culture, specifically black men.
In bell hooks’ We Real Cool, she explains that to a black man in the twentieth century “work means putting yourself directly under a white man on a job and having to do what he says. Refusal to do so means being fired. Thus, work becomes synonymous with loss of respect”.
Yet, at the end of the day “a black man needed money to live. If he was not going to get it working for the man, it could come from hustling his own people”. Essentially, black men, in calling the evils of capitalism and unmasking wage disparity, sought to find other ways of earning a liveable wage.
While there are many ways one might go from with this, I wish to go back to the modern do it yourself mindset, and how it might not be so modern after all. Similar to black leaders in the sixties calling out the evils of capitalism, society as a whole has finally become disillusioned with the system.
But while black men were demonised for seeking other ways of earning money, with the media emphasising new narratives of “gangsta culture”, new (mostly white) trends of people monetising hobbies and becoming their own bosses seem to be wholly embraced.
The only criticism from people buying houses for a profit seems to focus on a deep hatred for grey walls and modern finishes. There seems to be little cultural discourse on how these DIYs are a clear indicator of the soaring house prices - as when people can afford to buy, the can’t afford to hire professionals to renovate. And when they can afford to buy a house, they decide to renovate in a way that’ll best suit future buyers, leading me to wonder why they feel the necessity to market their homes towards anyone else but themselves.
In having a feed oversaturated with videos promoting “on a budget” thinking, I’m left wondering if these fun projects would not have been the go-to approach for people posting their videos if they had a pool of funds to dip into.
Similarly, while I adore watching videos of creators starting their own businesses, many of the creators are post graduates disappointed by the scarce opportunities in today’s job market.
So while I’m all for being your own boss, maybe we need to address a few things before romanticising doing it all yourself?
—
Love,
Anastasia