Beyond Horatio's Dreams: Towards a Community Chest of Realistic Life Chances
Dan Steward, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Zoom ID: 942 2705 5740; passcode: 788710
Zoom Link: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/94227055740?pwd=MW9mU3pjejZtOFRKT2VNOTVTZlVvdz09
There is a growing interest in games and gaming in contemporary culture, including higher education. Games are not only an object of study, but a method of learning. Sociology has a rich history of teaching and learning with games, including Monopoly mods (modifications) used to explore social inequalities.
In this presentation, I illustrate and discuss the use of Sociopoly in the classroom and in computer simulations. Addressing the prospect of using simulations (and simulation data) to address shortcomings in the conventional classroom use of the game, I give special attention to the "Horatio Alger" problem. In any single iteration of a Sociopoly game, it is possible (though highly unlikely) for the least advantaged to win. When this happens, a lesson about the significance of social structure for opportunities/life chances can backfire. But this can, itself, become a teaching/learning moment to address concepts like "chance." Running simulations with many iterations of a game can provide us with data to better understand players' chances/opportunities.
