Abstract
Jean Piaget proposed that children’s frame of mind changes in accordance with their environment - and their cognitive development is formed through the acquisition of knowledge, which later contributes to their perception of the world. The Monopoly board game, inspired by Lizzie Magie in 1903 to promote and popularize the libertarian belief of Henry George, who holds a zero-sum game value in terms of financial ownership. Here, playing Monopoly in childhood and early adolescence seems to encourage the Thatcherite thinking - Everyone for themself, as one’s main goal in life, as an enterpriser, should be the egoistic pursuit of individual wealth and accomplishment. Self-interests are prioritized over the social good. However, if we align individual benefits with the public good by re-designing the Monopoly into a Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) module, would it help children grow into a responsible future citizen who personalize ESG agenda into his/her self-interests, as we liberate the concept of ownership into a collective entity that favors ecology in the making of one’s own self-concept? In so doing, the children – the future citizens on Earth – may realize that there is no differentiation between self and community, which should be viewed as complementary being rather than two separate units: Either you lose, or I win. The mentality of zero-sum game can be a libertarian illusion while self and society ought to be taken either as a win-win or a lose-lose situation. Perhaps the best way to implement ESG is through the cognitive making of the children?
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Jean Piaget, Monopoly Board Game, ESG, Libertarian, Cognitive development
