Reflective Essay: Sociopoly In The United States

After playing Sociopoly, it really put into perspective how much society is rigged just like the game. I was the working poor, and got sent to jail almost every round because I rolled doubles. My role was of an African American and I couldn 't help but see the link. In class we have learned that African Americans are incarcerated much more than whites and there have been many cases where the people were innocent. I couldn 't help but feel the same way-I 'm unlucky and innocent! Throughout the game I landed on “free parking” and won $1,500, however, I kept getting sent to jail, so I never got the chance to spend my money. Team 4 won ”free parking” as well, and all of the sudden the tables turned, and we were the ones with the money. However, the odds were still stacked against us. After rolling doubles countless times and winning “free parking”, I realized how much chance is

In this simulation the different rules for teams 3 and 4, supported Michael Shwalbe’s argument that we are not playing a fair game, because not everyone was playing the same game with the same rules and not everyone received advantages. Team 1 and 2 received more money than Team 4 and I when passing go, and did not have to go to jail when rolling doubles. We also bought into normalizing the reproduction of inequality. Team 3 and I never changed the rules until we were told to do so because we went along with the routine and just assumed that is how we had to do things, because they were the rules and we have been taught to follow them. I also thought it was kind of humorous how Shwalbe called how the game was going to go by saying, “And if Monopoly is played to its logical conclusion, one person end up rich and the others go broke. As long as people follow the rules this is what happens, no matter that the players are nice people and don’t intend to be greedy and selfish” (58). Throughout the game Team 1 got greedy and bought as many places as he could buy, while the rest of us