Sociology Monopoly

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Many have heard the story that the popular board game Monopoly originated in Atlantic City during the Great Depression.  Charles Darrow is often credited with sketching out the very first monopoly board on his tablecloth to create the game of trading and finance that has grown over the years to be an industry of its own, made into more than a billion sets. Although Darrow did secure a patent to the game in 1935, the game bears a striking resemblance to The Landlord’s Game, patented by Elizabeth Phillips in 1904.  Recent research has shown general agreement that Elizabeth Magie Phillips developed the Landlord’s Game as a tool of advocacy, writing two sets of rules for players to follow as they rolled dice, moved tokens around the board, buying, selling and building on properties to acquire wealth and drive their opponents into bankruptcy.  There is fair evidence that Phillips developed her game to advocate for Henry George’s single tax proposal.

What does this have to do with the high school semester elective, Sociology?

Monopoly has entertained millions of people for years, holding a unique place in American
popular culture.  Yet CHS teacher Ms. Camp returns Monopoly to its roots as an instructional tool for her Sociology students.  As part of the unit on Social Class, students divide themselves into teams to play Monopoly in class.  But in this version of the game, they are “born” into four social classes, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.  The rules are changed to match the structures that define social class.

Each game has four players, and each player represents a different class.
 Licensed under Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons

Instead of every player starting with the same amount of money, wealth is distributed according to class, so each of the four teams gets a different bankroll to start the game.
  • Upper Class = $2,500
  • Middle Class = $1,500
  • Working Class = $1,000
  • Lower Class = $500
Movement around the board is also affected by social class:
  • Upper Class = moves along by number on dice + or – one square 
  • Middle Class = moves along by number on dice + one square 
  • Working Class = moves along by number on dice – one square 
  • Lower Class = moves along by number on dice 
There are rules for buying Property determined by class also:
  • Lower Class can buy ONLY purple and blue properties
  • Working Class can buy lower class property & maroon &orange properties 
  • Middle Class can buy working and lower class properties, red and yellow 
  • Upper Class can buy any property on the board that it can afford
Every time the players go around the board they are reminded of their class, because each gets a different amount for passing GO:
  • Lower = $100 
  • Working = $150 
  • Middle = $200 
  • Upper = $250 

As students play the game through two half-period classes, Ms. Camp records what they say to each other, tracking their reaction to the game.  After the game, she leads a whole-class discussion, using the effect of the social class rules on the results of the game and the manner in which they do and do not reflect socio-economic hierarchies found in society today.  Although this discussion is often lively. Ms. Camp repeats student quotes she’s recorded to keep the conversation moving.

Having students play a game based on strategy, rather than a game based on competitive memorization, naturally gets students engaged by their desire to win.  Each team's autonomy to decide what property to purchase or not, or when and where to build houses, appears to give them some control over their performance in the game.  Even though the alteration of the rules favors some teams over others, the luck of the dice rolls adds to the feeling of autonomy to give each team the appearance of chance as success.  Yet, like the real world it reflects, the rules of sociology monopoly make the outcome all but certain.

As homework, students respond to these prompts to guide their thinking about the game and social class:

What were your general observations about the game?
  • What did you notice about people’s attitudes in the game?  Comments made?  
  • Who was the most engaged in the game?  The least? 
  • Was everyone equally motivated to play? why/why not? Was everyone equally motivated to win? why/why not? 
  • What were the greatest tensions that existed?

Draw parallels between the game and real-life experiences.  Consider the following:
  • How did each rule modification mirror real-life social structure/rules/situations?
  • Did the rich get richer/poor get poorer? why or why not?
  • Did those who lost lose because they were less skilled and motivated?
  • What factors would contribute to higher levels of social mobility in this game?
Sociology Monopoly is a creative way to take a classic game and turn it into an instructional device by returning it to its original roots.