Relative deprivation is the lack of resources to sustain the diet, lifestyle, activities and amenities that an individual or group are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong.
[1] Measuring relative deprivation allows an objective comparison between the situation of the individual or group compared to the rest of society.
[2] The concept was first used systematically by the authors of The American Soldier who studied army units and found out that it is the perceived discrepancy between anticipation and attainment which results in feelings of relative deprivation.
[8][9] For example, some scholars of social movements explain their rise by citing grievances of people who feel deprived of what they perceive as values to which they are entitled.
Relative deprivation may be temporal; that is, it can be experienced by people that experience expansion of rights or wealth, followed by stagnation or reversal of those gains.
Some scientists, for instance John Kenneth Galbraith, have argued that relative differences in economic wealth are more important than absolute deprivation, and that it is more significant in determining human quality of life.
[17] This debate has important consequences for social policy, particularly on whether poverty can be eliminated simply by raising total wealth or whether egalitarian measures are also needed.
Counter-arguments include that some people are prone to conflict-avoidance, are short-term-oriented, and that imminent life difficulties may arise since there is no guarantee that life-improvement will result from social action.