Relative Deprivation and Social Change

Abstract

Incremental and dramatic social change affects every society and the individuals within it. The relationship between relative deprivation (RD) (i.e., the feeling of being threatened following negative comparisons) and social change can be described in two ways. On the one hand, RD contributes to social change: dissatisfaction towards the in-group situation motivates group members to improve their status and to engage in collective actions. Collective actions are considered a catalyst of social change and are used as a means to modify the social structure to redistribute resources and to enhance the in-group status. On the other hand, social changes can lead to dissatisfaction. As societies are modified, group members compare their present situation to their situation before the change occurred. When they believe that social change has negatively affected their group, they are likely to experience RD. As such, RD can both drive social change and be caused by it. Propositions for future research focus on the relevance of the RD concept in increasing the relevance of psychological research on social change. Two new possible functions for RD in the study of social change are identified.