DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/HSNP-CA18
Defense Date
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Victor Chen
Second Advisor
Tressie Cottom
Third Advisor
Meredith Clark
Abstract
Due to racialized and gendered exclusion and discrimination, Black and women jobseekers do not have the same access to social ties in the labor market as white men. A number of Black Twitter users, particularly Black women, have cultivated networks on Twitter and elsewhere as explicit alternatives to this old boys’ network. This study aimed to understand how workers in creative industries—which tend to be more reliant on referrals—use Twitter to expand their social networks and gain access to job opportunities, and how their use of Twitter differed by race and gender. Four hashtags were queried through the Twitter application programming interface—#Reignydayjobs, #blkcreatives, #creativejobs, and #jobsearch—the first two of which are used extensively by Black creatives seeking opportunities and networking within their field. The tweets gathered through this process were analyzed using digital ethnographic methods in order to illuminate how social media job searching and networking behaviors differ by race and gender. As a result of this study, there were some gender and racial differences in how hashtags were used to network and find opportunities , as well as the use of identity based hashtags among Black individuals , more specifically Black women.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-22-2020