In the forty-third episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I discuss the history and ideology of the classic board game, Monopoly.

In this episode, we present the original intentions behind the board game as being meant to teach socialism — and most definitely not greed. We trace the history of the game and how it has changed over time to discuss how the game serves to teach players about basic economic theories, while also addressing the basic question of does the game encourage greed.

Basically, we look at whether or not Monopoly can be considered a serious game.

Primary editing on the episode was done by Jean-Michel Berthiaume.

As always, you are encouraged to become a part of this conversation by visiting any of the podcast’s social media sites. You can also talk with Christopher Olson on Twitter (@chrstphrolson) and at his academic blog seemsobvioustome.wordpress.com. And you can talk to me on Twitter (@mediaoracle).