Social inequality in Germany has increased significantly since the late 1990s. According to the Hans Böckler Foundation's distribution report, income inequality has increased significantly, while the poverty rate remains stubbornly high. The top 10% of households own two-thirds of the total wealth, while the bottom 20% are at risk of poverty. But social inequality is multi-layered and affects not only wealth and income, but also, among other things, education and social participation. Who has which opportunities, chances and access in our society is determined by power relations that have developed historically and economically.

The topic of social inequality is therefore highly relevant in society, and yet there are hardly any simulation games on it in German-speaking countries. With the simulation game ‘Citizens’ Assembly in Action: A Focus on Inequality, which is available free of charge, we are closing this gap.

The project was didactically and methodically quite challenging, not least because of the requirement to address two quite different target groups: 1) children and young people aged 11 to 14 and 2) young people aged 15 and up with reading difficulties. It was therefore important to approach the topic in a very low-threshold way, but without simplifying it unduly.

Not an easy task, but one from which we ourselves learned a great deal. The multiple tests during development and, of course, the scientific support provided by Dr Andreas Petrik, Professor of Didactics in Social Studies/Political Education at the Institute of Political Science at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, were very helpful. The discussions on the concept at the nationwide ‘Network Conference on Simulation Games 2024’ in Magdeburg were also very valuable.

But how did we solve it conceptually?

In the simulation game ‘Citizens’ Assembly in Action’, participants take on the roles of citizens with different ideas of justice and negotiate in these roles the introduction of measures to combat social inequality in the fictitious country of Fontania. The institutional framework of the simulation game is a citizens‘ assembly in which they vote on a recommendation (citizens’ report) for the government of Fontania. Depending on the interests and level of abstraction of the students, different topics can be selected: the introduction of a culture and leisure pass for people in need, the introduction of all-day schools and the introduction of a basic income.

In order to provide the participants of the simulation game with access to the topic that is as close to real life as possible and at the same time as close to politics as possible, we have chosen the form of a ‘sociological’ simulation game: the roles are designed as social roles, so the participants do not play party representatives, but citizens from different social milieus who have different social, cultural and economic capital. In addition to their socio-economic status, however, they also receive guidelines on their political stance and their idea of justice through their role. This also makes it clear that people do not necessarily vote for parties that make policies in line with their socio-economic interests.

To make it easier for participants to access the simulation game, longer text blocks are also available as audio files. In addition, the simulation game offers opportunities for didactic simplification or in-depth content exploration at various points.

We very much hope that the simulation game will be widely used! The materials will soon be available on the bpb website.