Pop the Balloon or Find Love: The Neoliberal Restructuring of Romantic Desire among Black Americans

Description of research project: 

This project uses the popular YouTube dating show 'Pop The Balloon or Find Love' as a case to examine  how neoliberal ideologies influence contemporary ideas of romantic desirability among Black Americans. On the show, participants publicly decide whether to “pop” a balloon to reject a potential partner or keep it unpopped to signal interest. They are then invited by the host to explain their decisions. One noticeable trend on the show is how often contestants draw on neoliberal ideologies to both position themselves as desirable and to evaluate the desirability of others. For example, contestants frequently highlight their entrepreneurial endeavors (a significant number claim to “own multiple businesses”), attempt to demonstrate financial or market literacy (through references to investing, stocks, building generational wealth), fetishize meritocratic individualism, and frame romantic relationships as quasi-business partnerships requiring mutual “value-add.” Together, these observations suggest that neoliberal ideologies (including, but not limited to entrepreneurialism, market-based subjectivities, and individual responsibility) have become important in structuring desirability in our contemporary moment. Drawing on these observations, this project asks three central questions:

1. How do (Black American?) contestants mobilize neoliberal ideologies to position themselves as desirable partners on the show?

2. How do (Black American?) contestants draw on neoliberal ideologies to evaluate the desirability of other contestants on the show?

3. What makes neoliberalism an appealing interpretive framework for selecting a romantic partner at this particular historical moment?

We are seeking RA support to analyze episodes of Pop The Balloon or Find Love to answer RQ’s 1 & 2.

Description of work that will be assigned to research assistants:

1. Episode Viewing and Targeted Transcription: Watching full episodes of Pop The Balloon, paying particular attention to moments when participants give explanations for their decisions to pop or not pop the balloon. RAs will transcribe these narratives for analysis;

2. Focused Thematic Coding: Coding excerpts of episode transcripts to capture how participants express/evaluate desirability;

3. Data Organization: Recording episode details, timestamps, and transcribed excerpts for collaborative review; 

4. Analytic Memos: Writing short reflections (1–2 paragraphs) that identify emerging patterns; 

5. Literature review support: Helping to review relevant literature on Black sexuality, gender, race/ethnicity.

RAs will receive training in literature reviews, and qualitative research methods.

Supervising Faculty Member: Dr. Al Young 

Graduate Student: Kayonne Christy & Kyle McCullers 

Contact Information: kchristy@umich.edu, kylemcc@umich.edu

Average hours of work per week: 6-10

Range of credit hours students can earn: 2-3

Number of positions avaiable: 4