The Cost of Culture: An Analysis of Cash App and the Financial Inclusion of Black American Communities

Jay L. Cunningham, Sydney T. Nguyen, Julie A. Kientz and Daniela Rosner. 2022. The Cost of Culture: An Analysis of Cash App and the Financial Inclusion of Black American Communities. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22), June 13-17, 2022, Virtual Event, Australia. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 24 Pages

Jay L. Cunningham, Sydney T. Nguyen, Julie A. Kientz and Daniela Rosner. 2022. The Cost of Culture: An Analysis of Cash App and the Financial Inclusion of Black American Communities. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22), June 13-17, 2022, Virtual Event, Australia. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 24 Pages

Jay L. Cunningham, Sydney T. Nguyen, Julie A. Kientz and Daniela Rosner. 2022. The Cost of Culture: An Analysis of Cash App and the Financial Inclusion of Black American Communities. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22), June 13-17, 2022, Virtual Event, Australia. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 24 Pages

Overview

Mobile banking applications have become a primary mode of sharing and managing financial resources. However, prior work has questioned its role in serving Black communities amid legacies of structural racial inequity. To investigate this critical topic, we conducted a 30-day diary study with 21 participants and an interview study with 15 participants, all Black American users of the mobile payment platform Cash App. We observed that addressing hurdles to financial inclusion requires the navigation of institutional distrust, banking barriers, and financial literacy disparities. Our findings suggest that Black Americans persist and navigate contemporary financial systems through legacies of social and cultural capacities. We offer grounded-truth considerations for the continued design of fin-tech that could have equitable impact among historically marginalized communities. Reflecting on the tenor of financial services to lack empathy, we urge designers and scholars of financial technology to reflect on their power to promote racial justice and financial inclusion.

Category

Research Article

Timeline

Feb 2021 - March 2022

Collaborators

Jay L. Cunningham , Sydney T. Nguyen , Julie A. Kientz , Daniela Rosner

Organization

UW HCDE; ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2022


Read Full-Text Paper
  • Jay L. Cunningham, Sydney T. Nguyen, Julie A. Kientz and Daniela Rosner. 2022. The Cost of Culture: An Analysis of Cash App and the Financial Inclusion of Black American Communities. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22), June 13-17, 2022, Virtual Event, Australia. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 24 Pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3532106.3533569

Get In Touch

I’m always open to new connections, collaborations, and potential opportunities. Media requests and requests for speaking engagements can be made through private consultancy. .engage[at]jaylcunningham.com.

External

jaylcham[at]uw.edu

engage[at]jaylcunningham.com

info[at]artesiancapital.co

Designed and built with ♥ in Seattle, WA

© 2023 Jay Cunningham

Get In Touch

I’m always open to new connections, collaborations, and potential opportunities. Media requests and requests for speaking engagements can be made through private consultancy. .engage[at]jaylcunningham.com.

External

jaylcham[at]uw.edu

engage[at]jaylcunningham.com

info[at]artesiancapital.co

Designed and built with ♥ in Seattle, WA

© 2023 Jay Cunningham

Get In Touch

I’m always open to new connections, collaborations, and potential opportunities. Media requests and requests for speaking engagements can be made through private consultancy. .engage[at]jaylcunningham.com.

External

jaylcham[at]uw.edu

engage[at]jaylcunningham.com

info[at]artesiancapital.co

Designed and built with ♥ in Seattle, WA

© 2023 Jay Cunningham