The Equality of Life Game: Examining Class-Based Privilege and Inequality in Workforce Entry Through Experiential Learning

Abstract

Class-based privilege and inequality remain defining features of contemporary society, shaping access to employment and career progression. Business schools, as gatekeepers to elite professions, often reinforce these patterns through implicit meritocratic assumptions and limited opportunities for perspective-taking. This article introduces Equality of Life, a tabletop simulation game designed to raise students’ awareness of how unequal starting positions—rooted in Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of economic, social, and cultural capital—affect career opportunities. Grounded in experiential learning theory and structured as a consciousness-raising experience, the game simulates the cumulative effects of class-based privilege and disadvantage, beginning at birth and culminating in the competition for an elite graduate job. Unlike traditional educational games that promote merit-based progression, Equality of Life deliberately subverts these mechanisms to create a deliberately unfair playing experience that highlights structural inequality. Evaluation data from two quasi-experimental studies demonstrate that playing the game increases students’ recognition of structural barriers. The game offers a practical and theoretically grounded tool for prompting business students to question dominant narratives and consider the structural conditions shaping workforce entry.