Hustle culture: when do we rest?
By Ada.
Someone gave me advice on dealing with university stress and post-uni life. It was a tale of intense travel across the UK to balance multiple jobs, lectures and a side hustle in order to be ready for the stress of real life. And if you’re not willing to go through that amount of hard work, you’re gonna fail at real life.
Whereas the phrase ‘hard work’ was being said, all I could hear was stress and trivialising university experiences. And this doesn’t automatically equate laziness but quite the opposite, it means people need a break.
See, there’s a lot going on right now. Reports of the widespread Coronavirus have an off-license selling toilet roll singles for 85p. In America, retail arbitrage is on the up and up with stores cleared out of sanitiser to profit off the panic. And somewhere on Twitter, a thread is circulating urging us not to be lazy and monetise our hobbies during isolation and quarantine.
As much as we are autonomous beings (terms and conditions apply), we’re also governed by rules which doesn’t result in equal treatment for all. But there’s a common denominator which didn’t come out of thin air; Hustle culture.
Definitions surrounding hustle have a lot of negative connotations. You see words and meanings like ‘push roughly’, persuasion to buy illegally, ‘a dishonest way of making money’ and then a bit lighter, ‘a state of great activity’. Hustle culture is overexertion, often to the detriment of oneself or others around them. It’s a constant state of movement and activity in order to attain a certain goal. But if we’re being honest, it’s not even about working hard and getting your money up to stop complaining about billionaires’ wealth (another day), it’s quite frankly a result of a capitalist society that is literally killing people. And to be frank, it’s killing some more than others.
But what’s the correlation?
At its core, capitalism encourages private ownership of public facilities built on public labour. It perpetuates the myth that (monetary) rewards are received based solely on hard work. That’s why it’s a sign of failure on an individual’s part when they’re poor or in financially unstable situations.
Darling, no.
It fails to consider institutions and systems that contribute to creating positions where a small percentage in comparison to its larger counterpart, exist in roles where they can flaunt and profit off the continued hard work of other people. So people work harder, they do more to be more, receive more, sometimes just to get by or to attain even a certain level of comfort to be able to do things without counting coins. This in turn often leads to burn out (mentally and physically) and when you’re burnt out, you can’t function to the best of your ability and when you can’t function, it affects your way of life which in turn restarts the cycle because you need to survive.
Classed minorities are more likely to be in positions where social mobility is more difficult despite having (more than) the necessary experience and qualifications to move on up. 58% of young BAME adults are more likely to be unemployed, at risk or receive less pay in comparison to their white counterparts. According to a Carnegie UK survey, ‘those who identify as Black African are also in a precarious position compared to the white individuals, having a greater risk of unemployment, shift work, and not having a permanent contract.’ It is worth noting that this report does not encompass all the intersections that exist.
Opportunities aren’t awarded on the basis of meritocracy for Black individuals. Mediocrity however, will always breed stellar opportunities for caucasian counterparts. Black people are more likely to have multiple hustles which are hijacked by other demographics who in turn profit off the trade. This is historically true to date. At the end of the day, those with the least are disproportionately affected the most by preventative structures which ensure they remain the least.
