A Game of Sociopoly

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Setting up Sociopoly

Players Money Allocation Pass GO

Player 1 £1500 £200 and one free house

Player 2 £1050 £100 and one free house

Player 3 £938 £100 only

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Monopoly- a versatile learning tool• To predict the outcomes of different laws and policies on

economic systems (Shannon 1950).

To teach students about: • Social class stratification (Crocco, 2011; Coglan & Huggins

2004; Ender, 2004; Fisher, 2008; Jessup, 2001) .• Socio-economic disadvantage by ethnic group and gender

(Jessup 2001).• Social Deviance (Paino and Chin 2011).• Short and long term impacts of runaway inflation (Darlin 2011).• Probability (Sommers, 2006).• Mathematical reasoning (Caldwell, 1998).• The deficit crisis in the United States (Wright Maley 2013).

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Post Sociopoly discussion.What was unfair?• Money allocation

• Passing Go

• Free Parking

• Jail

• Anything else?

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Sociopoly ObjectivesTo encourage students to think carefully, critically, analytically and empathetically about social inequality, particularly social class and poverty, and to help students:

1.Understand the structural constraints that govern economic choices;

2.Recognise that economic failure is usually not linked to individual or character defects;

3.Realise that social inequality is rooted in economic position, power and the availability of resources.

Jessop 2001:103

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Explaining the Inequalities…

Team Social groupMedian net individual

income (weekly)

Sociopoly allocation

Jail Passing Go

OneMen (White

British)£288 £1500

Low chance, high fine.

£200 and one free house

Two

Men (Black British or Black–

Caribbean)

£220 £1146High chance,

high fine£100 and one

free house

ThreeWomen (all

ethnic groups)£180 £938

Low chance, low fine

£100 only

Source (for median net individual incomes): Report of the National Equality Panel, 2010.

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Relating Sociopoly to the UKThe Gender Pay Gap

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The Criminal Justice System• On 30 June 2013, 26% of the prison population was from a

minority ethnic group. This compares to around 14% of the general population. Source: Prison Reform Trust www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk

• At 31 December 2013, the total prison population in England and Wales was 84,163. 80,356 prisoners were male and 3,807 (4.5%) prisoners were female. Source: Ministry of Justice Statistics Bulletin 2014

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Rewriting the rules…