Monopoly Wealth Game

In class last week we were given the opportunity to see how managing money depends on your background. No matter how hard you work and how much you get paid, in the end it comes down to what you started with and your luck. We played Real life American style monopoly. In this game, each person started out with a different amount of money and had different advantages to what they were starting with. The wealthiest person had more than enough money and more than enough "stuff" worth in investments and ownerships. While the person at the bottom had barley enough money to keep going throughout the game until they were put into debt. From monopoly, I realized that wealth comes with a lot of advantages that we don't notice until we experience it. If you start off with more money, it doesn't hurt as much if you make a bad choice or bad investment. But if you start off with little amount of money, one little mistake can make a huge difference and make a big set back compared to what you really should be at. Not only did this game prove the wealthy succeeds, but in the penny toss game, it was noticed that if you had more you were able to bet more. Meaning that if you lost anything, it wouldn't affect you as much. While this all relates to real life, it can easily be determined that the wealthy stay rich because they start off with more money, and the poor may have more difficulty to beat the odds.

Class and Social Status

"What a man is depends on his character; but what he does, and what we think of what he does, depends on his circumstances. The characteristics that ruin a man in one class made him eminent in another." We may be quick to assume why some one does something and we may be quick to come up with a reason if we like it or not, but in reality the different social classes say different things. People are always trying their best to their wanting. If some one is content with the way they do things or the way they live, they may not necessarily want to earn more money and devote more of their time to something. To them, their best is what they have. To others, they may have the aspiration to keep achieving. That no matter what they will work harder and harder to achieve more and to make more money. When we look back on everything and think about why people do what they do. We realize that social class and status has a big part in it. If you grow up in a wasp culture, chances are you will not see eye to eye with some one who grew up on a farm. You may even have a totally different outlook on how you are supposed to life and how you are supposed to earn your money. But what you don't realize is that the opposite person may be looking down upon your choices too. People will do whatever they want depending on their circumstances. We can't be too quick to judge why some one is doing something, other than knowing why they did it. Some people choose to work on low income jobs and heavy duty work, while others are given the opportunities that people that are poorer will have to work up to. The characteristics that make up who we are depend on our upbringing and our beliefs. Our class and social status provide us with the opportunities and starting points for life.