Fifty shades of play: Monopoly[supercript TM] and the spirit of capitalism

Abstract

While the recent trend towards the ‘gamification’ of business and organization is forging a new intersectionality between play and games with work and organization, play and games as a subject of research within the MOS literature is limited. While games, as a sub-domain of play, have been an area of study it is normatively approached from a narrow and instrumental perspective. This paper takes an historical look at the intersectionality of games and work from a historical and socio-cultural perspective. ANTi-History is first used to re-assemble a history of the board game Monopoly™. A mediological analysis is then used to investigate the material, ideational, and ideological elements of board games in general and to surface the relationship of Monopoly™ and its direct antecedents with work and organization in particular.