Unit Four Ethnographic Notes B & D

Ethnographic Notes B

Socio-economic class is a form of hierarchic status in that a person or a group is classified based upon their economic success or wealthiness. Especially in the US, the gaps amongst social classes are apparent that negatively segregate people and categorize them into particular levels. In reality, most Americans are dependent on credit cards and work constantly to pay for their debts. Some people are not really the owners of their houses, their cars because they use money from the bank loan to afford it. Also in American society, if you are in lower social class, you also have fewer chances to approach successes because social relationships and life backgrounds are crucial factors to determine your opportunity to successes. In fact, people could acquire a great amount of opportunities brought from family’s supports and social relationships that highly guarantees and enhances a chance of being successful.

On BC campus, socio-economic class is diverse with students from different social backgrounds integrated in one class.

 Students in middle class driving used cars to school.

Some students riding bikes to school to save some gas and maintenance fees.

Some students taking bus to school...

while the upper class' students driving super cars and living in premium housings.

Ethnographic Notes D – Discussion Topics
 
2c) Critically review and discuss the contents of the following site on class in America Class in America: The Unspoken Divide http://www.wksu.org/news/features/classinamerica/class-meaning/index.html

  

In modern American society, the gap amongst social classes is clear more than ever. “Class” is the segregation based upon economic statuses and educational levels. In compare to educational levels, classes divided by economic statuses seems more obvious and popular in capitalist society. In that, people in lower social class are mostly seen as lazy, deceitful, self-contempt, greedy and willing to do whatever it takes to meet their material needs. In reality, when talking about the lower social class, instead of using the “poor” word, the intellectuals and most people use “underclass” or “economically disenfranchised” to imply the poverty. That is definitely a problem when poverty is avoided to be mentioned directly as it becomes an ambiguous implication by society. Also, it is understandable that not anyone who is hard working could make enough money to serve their basic needs and putting food on the table for their family. In addition, in people’s belief, there is no way for the economically disadvantage people to have a rich and meaningful life. It means that poor people have nothing and have to wallow in a painful, valueless and lack of happiness life. To most people, living a value life is synonymous with having successes and material achievements. Nonetheless, the poverty is a culture in that the dignity and integrity not money define a person’s value. According to the society, the poor class is a lazy class, the reason they are poor because they are not hardworking enough. In fact, it is not the laziness made poor people not to work, it is because of the lack of humanity towards them in the jobs offered. 

Rich Vs. Poor

The lower class Americans

The upper class Americans

Also, an element that contributes to the segregation of human beings in society is education. Indeed, a well-educated person is always perceived as the one who could obtain a sustainable life, amend society and even sometime change the world with their devotion and ambition. Certainly, in social perceptions, a person with a good outcome of schooling becomes an educated person and vice versa, you would be called under-educated if you do not have a good life after completing school. In the United States where an education is on top of the world, it is clear to conceive that education is not equal due to the differences of public and private schools. Even though an entrance exam does not exist here when you get into college or university like most other countries, there is still a large number of Americans are high school graduates. In reality, adult education is not free and the most common choice is public school. Nonetheless, government supplies money for public school then it leads to an unequal quality in facilities, instructors between poor areas and rich areas. It does reflect the gap amongst social classes’ differences in America’s society. 

Public school students

Private school students

Unit Four Ethnographic Notes A & C

Sustainability is an area or business that can provide for its own community. It can survive on its own as well as not make an impact on the world. I think the way a building is sustainability is if they are low on their global impact.

These are solar panels; they work by capturing light from the sun to create power. With that power they light and heat the inside of the building they sit on. They make the building sustainable by not taking power from other places. 

This is a place that the people’s transportation can be hooked up to. They don’t burn anything in their cars making the air cleaner. These people are also rewarded by being able to park in the front as well as get free energy.

This is a place where they grow food which they can sell in their cafeteria. This makes it sustainable because they don’t have to go and order the foods that they grow, they can get it from here. This can also clean the air.

These are the bins that they throw their waste into. Each one is for different things. The middle bin if for things that can be reused like the things that they drink out of. The bin on the left is where the leftover food goes in. That will be sent to go into the dirt to make more dirt for plants. The bin on the right is the one that the things that don’t go into the first two go into. They are sustainable because they will come back to use in some way.

Notes C

Capitalism is a economic system that a countries industry is owned by private owners for profit. You have to pay for a lot of stuff that is used and things will be around for your using.  A capitalist commodity is a everyday thing that is found in a capitalist society. They are useful and valuable things in this society.

Laptops are something that you will see anywhere in college. You can see students on their laptops during class typing notes and looking up other things. They also sit outside a class and work on things for their next class. 

Another thing that is available is drink products they are everywhere you do and there are multiple drinks to choose from. They often come in containers that you throw away. No one uses drinking fountains anymore.

They are in every other building. Coffee wasn’t a big thing until about twenty years ago when Starbucks became a big company. Originally coffee was a drink that people would sit around a drink but now it is on the go.

Parking lot is something you see everywhere in America. People drive everywhere and try to park as close as they can. More and more cars are on the road.

Computer labs became big in the past ten years more and more things are done online. More places have computer labs. If the school doesn’t it is considered old.