Ethnographic Notes on Capitalistic Commodities - Paul Roussos

Paul Roussos
2/10/13

Ethnographic Notes On Campus

     Capitalism can be defined as a system solely intended for profitable gain by privately owned business that work with supply and demand. With an increase in demand for a product, production increases in order to compensate for the increased demand. The price of the item will also increase with higher demand. On the other side of things, when demand is low, production is also decreased as well as the price.

       Looking at the Bellevue Campus in particular, there are numerous examples of Capitalist commodities. When looking at the most highly demanded products for a school campus, you would look at the bookstore. The bookstore at Bellevue Campus is one of the biggest capitalistic sites for profit. Students can purchase school supplies ranging from pencils, notepads, rulers, pens, and calculators. Or they could obviously purchase their books for the coming quarter of school. Since the demand for educational books are so high, they reserve the right to increase the prices on the books. I myself have paid over a hundred dollars for a single book alone.
     Not only can capitalistic activity be seen through the bookstore but as well as the cafeteria on the Bellevue Campus. The Bellevue Campus sight makes food readily available at your convenience by having a specialized area where students are able to purchase a warm meal. Food items in the cafeteria range anywhere from sandwiches to hot and ready soup. Prices in the cafeteria remain high being that it saves the people the time and effort it takes to prepare a sack lunch as they try to make it to class on time.