Obsevartions Case

Short Question: Sociopoly

In our class game of sociopoly, I played in group number two as the dog. I started with $667 and ended with approximately $137. When I started as the dog I was very disappointed because of the money involved. It can be hard to stretch $667. However, I was slightly hopeful because I had more money than my fellow player, the iron, so it could have been worse. As the game progressed my savings depleted quite quickly. Luck was not on my side and I ran into various taxes and the many rents of my wealthier opponents. In our group everyone managed to last throughout the whole game, but that did not make me feel any better because by the time the game had ended, I was pretty poor. I had noticed that the different social structures provoked jealousy in me. The ship, for example, had the privilege of being the banker and the most wealthy (they collected a staggering $500 after each round around the board which is a hefty sum for monopoly/sociopoly standards). They became so wealthy that they did not even have to develop a solid strategy, unlike myself. I became so worried about becoming bankrupt that I restricted myself for spending any money at all. As I played, I realized this game could symbolize the current American economy. As they say on Wall Street, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This was exactly the case in our game and in our own economy. It seems like the gap between the rich and the poor is becoming larger as the middle class begins to disappear. The banker especially seemed to reap the most benefits. They had control over the funds, they were able to buy the most properties, and they got that outrageous $500 bonus. The ship piece was an accurate representation of our grand and ruthless bankers in the country, but at a smaller scale.

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