Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, "Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer" (U California Press, 2024)

Sep 17, 2024

Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, a sociologist delving into the craft beer industry, explores the complexities of pursuing passion-driven careers within this artisan economy. He highlights how personal connections, cultural ideals, and industry biases create divergent career paths, often excluding women and people of color. Wilson discusses the challenges faced during the pandemic, the impact of systemic inequalities, and the interplay of passion with workplace structures. His insights reveal the stark contrast between the allure of craft brewing and the harsh realities workers encounter.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Exploring Handcrafted Careers in Craft Beer

02:03 • 16min

Exploration of Career Pathways in Craft Brewing

18:03 • 3min

Craft Beer Careers: Pathways and Inequalities

21:05 • 13min

Passion and Structure in the Craft Beer Industry

34:10 • 2min

Passion vs. Reality in Craft Brewing

36:18 • 9min

Navigating the Dynamics of the Service Industry and Academic Reflections

45:35 • 3min

Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer (U California Press, 2024) unpacks the problems and privileges of pursuing a career of passion by exploring work inside craft breweries.

As workers attempt new modes of employment in the era of the Great Resignation, they face a labor landscape that is increasingly uncertain and stubbornly unequal. With Handcrafted Careers, sociologist Eli Revelle Yano Wilson dives headfirst into the everyday lives of workers in the craft beer industry to address key questions facing American workers today: about what makes a good career, who gets to have one, and how careers progress without established models.

Wilson argues that what ends up contributing to divergent career paths in craft beer is a complex interplay of social connections, personal tastes, and cultural ideas, as well as exclusionary industry structures. The culture of work in craft beer is based around “bearded white guy” ideals that are gendered and racialized in ways that limit the advancement of women and people of color. A fresh perspective on niche industries, Handcrafted Careers offers sharp insights into how people navigate worlds of work that promote ideas of authenticity and passion-filled careers even amid instability.

Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of built-environment, experience, identity, and place. He is currently conducting research on how architectural designers, builders, and community planners negotiate a sense of identity and place for residents of newly constructed neighborhoods. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his website, Google Scholar, Twitter @ProfessorJohnst, or by email at johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu.

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