Beyond Race,Gender,and Class: Integrating Intersectionality into Monopoly Simulations

Abstract

Monopoly simulations have long been used in sociology classrooms to demonstrate sociological concepts, with early versions centering social stratification and class inequality. Since then, scholars have adapted the game to explore race, gender, deviance, globalization, and intersectionality. Yet, most still conceptualize gender as binary, focus on race/class/gender alone, and overlook other intersectional identities. Our Intersectional Monopoly extends these models by including more gender-diverse identities and additional axes, such as sexuality, religion, nationality, immigrant status, and age. We created playable characters and context cards to show how intersecting identities shape experiences in social contexts. We collected data on students’ experiences across four lower-level and four upper-level sociology classes. Results suggest students gained a clearer understanding of intersectionality and privilege and how identities shapes life chances. Students also noted that the simulation enhanced learning, connected course concepts to real-world examples, and deepened their understanding of inequality.