Political Economy and Class Stratification

 Socio-economic class on Campus 

Socio-economic class is one of the most important aspects to determine if students go or not to college. The educational system in the U.S is very expensive and parental income is an important fact to determine how many high school students go to college, where they go to college and if they graduate. Aspects like gender and race linked with socio-economic class are better predictors of college attendance and success in the U.S. 

You will find students from different social-economic classes but the majority of the students are from middle-class. The number of students that drive to the campus is high. A lot of students also take the bus and a few ride their bikes to the campus. Having a car is a privilege that not everyone can afford. College tuition also costs a lot of money. So students that have a car and are able to afford college expenses belong to a higher socio-economic level.

The majority of the students are seen on the campus with their electronic devices such as iPads, iPods, smartphones and computers. These technologies are quite expensive and are another important aspect that shows the socio-economic class of the students at Bellevue College. Poor people probably wouldn’t have access to all this technology.

A lot of students buy their coffee regularly at the cafeteria. A small plain coffee costs $1,63. If a student buys one coffee per day at the end of the month he will have spent $32,60 only with coffee. But this is not the reflex of the students at Bellevue College; plain coffee is not the best seller in the cafeteria.  Students prefer their latte coffees and more sophisticated drinks which increases even more the average of money students spend with coffee.

Capitalist Commodities on the Campus

Capitalism is the economic system in which all or most of the factors of production and distribution are privately owned and operated for profit. According to capitalism, businesspeople decide what and how much to produce and what to charge for them, not the government. In a free-market capitalism the production of goods are in high demand instead of for self consume – this process is called Capitalist Commodity of Production. We can see the reflections of capitalism everywhere. By the privatization of business is believed to increase the society's wealth as business can control supply and demand more accurate, knowing what to produce or not based on demand. Thus, commodities are goods produced to satisfy wants and needs of a society or group of people that can be marketed. 

The education system works the same way too. At Bellevue College campus for example, we can notice many examples of commodities:

·    Vending machines – They are machines that sell convenience goods like candy, gum, snacks and beverages. Those products are what people want to frequently purchased with almost no effort. For that reason, they are strategically placed on easy access locations for the convenience of consumers. Walking through the campus hall ways you can see many of them. If you are thirsty you can use your money to buy a bottle of water. There is free water fountains in the buildings but sometimes it's more convenient for students and staffs of the campus to buy a "to go" bottle of water. You can take it anywhere with you, which avoid leaving the classroom  during a teacher's lecture to drink water. Also, you may not be that thirsty but when walking in front of and look at the advertising surround can make you buy a soda instead. 

·     Coffee Shops – They are also all over the place in the campus to make convenient for those whom want something to eat or a coffee, but not necessarily need any of those to survive. People usually make lines if there’s more than one client at the time, to make their orders. This is a social concept that means respect to another individual as whoever gets there first should be also listened first. All of their products are produced in higher demand to attend to peoples wants and needs and not only for self consume. They have a variety of choices to choose from like coffee flavors, sizes, ingredients, etc. Prices are set according to the profit expectations from the products to the campus, but also to what people will be whiling to pay. 

     Book Store - Even though they are inside the campus the book store is not owned by Bellevue College. This facility is set on campus to attend the students and staff needs. Most of instructors requires text books for their classes. Others may require "scantron sheets" or "blue books" used in order to take quizzes or exams. The book store makes sure to have all the supplies needed for students and instructors. It also sells clothing and suvenirs carrying the college name.    

Student buying a text book.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a balance of three dimensions economic, social, and environmental, that doesn’t take a large toll on non-renewable resources on earth long term. Economically by is the ability of an economy to support a defined level of economic production indefinitely, when a political unit, such as a nation, a population below its preferred minimum standard of living level. Where present persons that will not diminish the prospects of future persons to enjoy levels of consumption, wealth, utility, or welfare comparable to those enjoyed by present persons. Where environmental and ecological variables and issues are basic but part of a multidimensional perspective. The general definition of social sustainability is the ability of a social system, such as a country, to function at a defined level of social well being indefinitely. That level should be defined in relation to the goal of Homo sapiens, which is (or should be) to optimize quality of life for those living and their descendants. Good relationships between nature and human development, environmental rights and human rights, local and, well designed transportation system, local and individual lifestyles. Education is a large concern and desire by everyone. Reduce war, crime, and corruption that generally threaten human well-being and the environment. Environmental healthy ecosystems provide vital goods and services to humans and other organisms. Low and no pollution being released into the atmosphere, bodies of water and systems, land uses are sustainable for both sustainable agriculture and high biodiversity ecosystems.

Overall living life by the ideal modestly but adequate scale of living to meet ones needs.

 

The Sustainability on Campus:

Bellevue College has taken steps to reduce the amount of energy and water being used by the campus by looking lighting and water fixtures and improvement to our heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Bellevue College has buildings that have taken steps to reduce their emissions before they were even being used by students. “R” building has geothermal heating and cooling. The “S” building has outside lamps that are.... has windows and insulation to regulate heating and cooling.

The new building that will be going start construction “T” building will have the latest green resources offered in the building industry. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold standard with having a green roof which is roof covered with vegetation, which helps with absorbing rainwater, providing insulation creating a habitat for wildlife, hydration stations for filling water bottles, new bike racks, It will use geothermal heating and cooling. building will have windows and insulation to regulate heating and cooling, occupancy sensors, skylights, and daylight dimmers to reduce unnecessary energy consumption.

Solar Panels: installed a solar panel array above the art wing on C-Building. panels will provide roughly 7-8% of the power for C-Building, including the greenhouse. The location of our campus up on the top of a bluff facing the south is an ideal place to put solar panels. The location of our campus up on the top of a bluff facing the south is an ideal place to put solar panels. The big shift will come when we start to view the potential of these energy flows and start to utilize them. Bellevue College has made a large step in that direction by installing the panels.

Compost: Bellevue College cafeteria offers many local, organic and fair trade offerings, including burgers and coffee, all served on compostable materials Nearby, the student garden offers students opportunities to get their hands dirty.  Cafeteria waste oil is sold for the production of biodiesel, composting is picked up by Cedar Grove and recycling is promoted  to divert refuse to alternatives. We compost so to use those nutrients effectively. Food scraps, including dairy, meant and bones, Paper towels and napkins, Coffee filters. Cardboard, Compostable bags, other organic materials.  At Bellevue College, we sort waste so food and other organic materials products can be broken down into fertile soil. In this way, we recycle what we throw away and provide a benefit to others. Compost bins are available in the cafes in C, R, and L buildings. Also, a large compost bin located behind the C building, near the greenhouse.

Waste reduction:Offering recycle bins for mixed paper, glass, aluminum cans in all building on Bellevue College campus. Helps bring awareness to the students on campus on the impact they make on the environment around them. These cans being placed around the Bellevue College campus encouraged them to make good decisions when taking care of their product waste, such as paper, glass, and aluminum cans. 

By nearly all colleges are charging for printing and offering a limited number of free prints each quarter. Winter 2012 “Papercut” was introduced, a software tool, that lets students see how much they’ve printed with a desktop icon. Starting Winter 2013 student computers will be pay per print, students will receive $15.00 in credit and each print will deduct $0.10.  If necessary, students will be able to purchase additional printing credits at pay stations in N250 (the N lab). The pay stations will accept coins and bills, but not pennies.  Printing balances expire at the end of each quarter and do not rollover and are not transferable. It will also reduce our College’s environmental footprint and provide students the information they need to make responsible choices. Another way Bellevue College as reduces its waste is by having the bookstore has banned plastic bags.

Transportation: BC match up which where students find other can find others that live close to them and if their schedules match up they get a discounted price on parking fees, because they are carpooling. Carpooling saves gas because then those students are riding with each other and not alone. Electric car plug in stations are in our parking garage and in a few other parking lots on campus. For other students or staff that own electric cars, and can charge while they are on campus either taking classes or teaching them. A WeCar is a business where cars are rented to others within the community. An individual can rent the car for the hours that they need it, and park it in a designated area for those cars, letting it be available for another to take for the few hours they needed. The school gives students a deal on OCAR card by double the pay they give the school and placing it toward to card. An OCAR card is a card that is used if bus fare, the money is all on one card to make it easier to pay each time an individual takes the bus.  There is Bike storage or racks throughout the campus, to entice more students and teachers to ride their bikes to campus if they live relative close to campus. Or to ride to a bus station in the morning and arrive at school and place it in the storage stations or lock it up on one of the racks.

Earth week:, Earth day is the 22^nd of April so the school celebrate the day during the last week in April. Earth day is a full day of to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment from coast-to-coast in United States but it’s a day celebrated around the world. On this day millions of people plant thousands of plants, create art out of recycled product that would have ended up in a landfill, business make agreements to reduce their pollution output and much more. On the Bellevue College campus to celebrate this day it has a week of lectures, demonstrations, information booths, prizes, a farmers Market videos, music! This will be the 13^th annual earth week that the school as celebrated! 

Daily Used Product: Tooth Brush!  

 

Where did the raw materials come from?

In 1223 Chinese’s monks cleaned their teeth with brushes made of horse-tail hairs attached to an ox-bone handle.  It was adopted in Europe during the 17th century. Many mass-produced toothbrushes, made with horse or boar bristle, were imported to England from China until the mid-20th century. By 1840 toothbrushes were being mass-produced in England, France, Germany, and Japan. Pig bristle was used for cheaper toothbrushes, and badger hair for the more expensive ones.Tooth brushes where not commonly used by the people unit after World War II when American soldiers had to clean their teeth daily. 

What technology was employed to transform the raw materials into the item you see today?  

During the 1900s, celluloid handles gradually replaced bone handles in toothbrushes and the natural animal bristles were replaced with synthetic fibers usually Nylon. As of the turn of the Twenty-First Century, nylon had come to be widely used for the bristles, and the handles were usually molded from  thermoplastic materials. This was when more and more companies started to make different variations of the tooth brush, such as Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, Radius and Crest.  The first electric toothbrush was invented in Switzerland in 1954. 

Here is a video that presents a company commercials when designing new toothbrush design

How did it come to be part of your life?

The tooth brush become part of my life after my two front teeth started to come in when I was a toddler. My parents would brush my teeth until I learned how to brush them myself, brushing in a circular motion around each tooth. Next was going to the dentist every few months to see if my teeth were coming in straight and properly. If I didn’t clean my teeth well enough, or didn’t take good care of them like I was supposed to, I would get cavities. Now in my early twenties I have upgrades from my plastic tooth brush to using an electric tooth brush when I am at home, but still use a plastic one if I am spending a night away from home.

What are the meanings associated with the simple object you are writing about (symbolism of material culture objects)?

There are a few meanings of the use and ownership behind the object such as a tooth brush the.  The optimal meaning behind a toothbrush is the cleanliness of the teeth and which improves the view of the person in a positive way. Cleanliness will also give you whiter teeth which are a high looked for attribute in a person.  As well as brushing the teeth gives a person good breath.  Cleanliness and fresh breath gives the appeal of having good oral hygiene. With good hygiene a person will have likelihood of having bad teeth, or gum disease. If a person has good oral hygiene, fresh smelling breath, and white teeth are more attractive to another person so they are more likely to have conversation with and primary to the opposite sex another with all of those qualities related to the toothbrush. If you have white teeth and fresh smelling breath you are more likely to find a date than not having those qualities about a smile. A good looking smile is highly sot after.