SIMSOC: Participant's Manual

SIMSOC (which is pronounced sim-sock and stands for simulated society) is a dynamic group simulation game that forces participants to cope with the daily problems of governing society. Assuming a variety of roles, the players grapple with issues like abuse of power, justice, diversity, trust, and leadership as they negotiate their way through labor-management strife, political turmoil, and natural disasters. SIMSOC imposes few rules and restrictions upon its participants. There is no programmed outcome. Success or failure is dependent upon decisions made by players and the creativity of the group. To be successful, players must utilize every basic social process from cooperation and reward to threat and punishment. SIMSOC will make participants ask questions about social control, and bring everyday experience and deeper understanding to even the most arcane social and organizational theory.

Included in this Fifth Edition of SIMSOC's Participant's Manual are instructions for playing, materials for play, study questions based on participation, and selected readings about simulation games, leadership, and social processes. New to the Fifth Edition are additional size levels to accommodate larger groups, simplified rules, and readings by authors from Nicholas Lemann to Robert Putnam.

Each SIMSOC participant should have a copy of the Participant's Manual and the instructor a copy of SIMSOC's Coordinator's Manual, which contains additional materials needed for play and directions on how to set up and run SIMSOC. One Coordinator's Manual will be needed for each SIMSOC exercise of up to ninety participants. It can be obtained, for a $5.00 fee, by writing, on letterhead, to:

The Free Press
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Faculty Service Desk
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Those who analyze public opinion have long contended that the average citizen is incapable of recounting consistently even the most rudimentary facts about current politics; that the little the average person does know is taken at face value from the media reports, and that the consequence is a polity that is ill-prepared for democratic governance. Yet social movements, comprised by and large of average citizens who have become exercised about particular issues, have been a prominent feature of the American political scene throughout American history and they are experiencing a resurgence in recent years. William Gamson asks the question, how is it that so many people become active in movements if people are so generally uninterested and badly informed about issues? The conclusion he reaches in this book is a striking refutation of the common wisdom about the public's ability to reason about politics. Rather than relying on survey data, as so many studies of public opinion do, Gamson reports on his analysis of discussions among small groups of working-class people on four controversial issues: affirmative action, nuclear power, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the troubles in American industry. Excerpts from many of these discussions are transcribed in the book. Gamson analyzes how these same issues have been treated in a range of media material, from editorial opinion columns to political cartoons and network news programs, in order to determine how closely the group discussions mimic media discourse. He finds that the process of opinion formation is more complex than it has usually been depicted and that people condition media information with reflection on their own experience or that of people they know. The discussions transcribed in this book demonstrate that people are quite capable of conducting informed and well-reasoned discussions about issues and that although most people are not inclined to become actively involved in politics, the seeds of political action are present in the minds of many. With the appropriate stimulation, this latent political consciousness can be activated, which accounts for the continual creation of social movements.

Those who analyze public opinion have long contended that the average citizen is incapable of recounting consistently even the most rudimentary facts about current politics; that the little the average person does know is taken strictly from what the media report, with no critical reflection; and that the consequence is a polity that is ill prepared for democratic governance. And yet social movements, comprised by and large of average citizens, have been a prominent feature of the American political scene throughout American history and have experienced a resurgence. William Gamson asks, how is it that so many people become active in movements if they are so uninterested and badly informed about issues? The conclusion he reaches in this book is a striking refutation of the common wisdom about the public's inability to reason about politics.

SIMSOC (which is pronounced sim-sock and stands for simulated society) is the most versatile role-playing game in the world. It has been used by hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of groups, in introductory sociology courses and business seminars, for firsthand understanding of the forces that determine success or failure in any group or society. Coordinators accustomed to the previous edition will find no cumbersome rule changes -- this edition is simpler yet broader than its predecessor. New to it are:

• Simpler, streamlined rules.
  
• Increased size levels so that SIMSOC exercises can accommodate up to ninety people.
  
• A way to simulate generating private capital through direct investment.
  
• Numerous options covering everything from cellular phones to e-mail, which can be used at the coordinator's discretion.
  
• Readings from professionals and popular authors like Robert Putnam and Nicholas Lemann to address issues important to sociologists and managers of complex organizations.
  

SIMSOC is appropriate for any group that wants to learn the nature of group dynamics and leadership or social organization and control. Big businesses like MGM and Lucent Technologies, charitable organizations, and local governmental agencies have all found it a useful teaching tool for over thirty years, as have college- and graduate-level social science students.

The coordinator must set up the game and collect and distribute various materials during it. Beyond that, he or she needs only to observe what is happening and focus post-game discussion and efforts on pertinent issues.

The SIMSOC Coordinator's Manual contains complete instructions and all the materials needed for play.
Also required are:

• Participants: Groups of up to ninety for each SIMSOC exercise.
  
• Time: Fifty to ninety minutes, five to ten times, for a total of no less than about eight hours.
  
• Space: Ideally four separate rooms, but the game can also be run in one large or two medium-sized rooms.
  
• Equipment: Each player needs the SIMSOC Participant's Manual and a pencil. One Coordinator's Manual will be needed for each group of up to ninety participants. It can be obtained, for a $5.00 fee, by writing, on letterhead, to:
  

The Free Press
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Faculty Service Desk
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

To learn more about our academic and professional resources, visit us online at www.SimonSaysacademic.com.