Handcrafted Careers: How Workers Navigate Racialized Career Pathways in the Craft Beer Industry.

The article examines how social inequality manifests in the career pathways of craft beer workers in the United States, focusing on the racialized and classed dynamics that influence employment opportunities. Through 107 in-depth interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, the study identifies two primary career pathways: the creative pathway, dominated by White men, and the hard labor pathway, where men of color are overrepresented. It highlights how micro-transitions—small movements between jobs—are shaped by workers' personal resources, social networks, and aspirations, revealing that while overt discrimination may be absent, subtle forms of racism and class privilege continue to perpetuate inequality in the craft beer industry. The findings contribute to the understanding of how structural forms of racism operate within contemporary labor settings, emphasizing the importance of examining micro-level processes in the reproduction of social inequality. [Extracted from the article]