Social Class Assignment

In this assignment I was part of the blue group, the lower class. Being in this group, I experienced frustration from unfairness and lack of progression. I kept on pulling only low-value chips from the bag and my scores were typically low. I felt as if my status was permanent and that trading was trivial, therefore I gave up and started to accept lower scores. Few people in my group took our disadvantage as an incentive to work harder and get better scores, but the majority was resentful and gave up on playing the game. This trading activity is an example of how social classes are determined by wealth and the affect money has on status differentiation. This game was split into three teams of color that represent Americas three tiered society …show more content…
Students from the lower and middle class responded in various ways throughout the activity. Student’s emotional responses and behavior were based on their social position in the simulated society. The blue team (lower class) became despondent, angry, self-blaming, self-critical, resentful, and most gave up on playing the game, or cheated. These reactions are relatable to real-world reactions of the lower class such as; Collective protests, non-cooperation, strikes, ostracizing upper groups. The middle class did not take action, didn’t take sides, and tried to preserve their chips The lower class did not enjoy the game as much as the middle or upper class, because of their inability to be successful in the game due to unequal distribution of resources. The upper class enjoyed the game because they are privileged and don’t want to question or care about the rigged system. The Red group did not see the advantage they had or how unfair the system