Since you found out a new position was opening up at your company a few months ago, you decided to up your game by taking on more initiative, staying at the office late, and contributing fresh ideas in meetings. Initially, you were confident that your efforts would help you snag the promotion, so when your coworker got it instead, you were just confused… not to mention a little frustrated. To make matters worse, over the next couple of weeks, you notice your coworker has a fancy new office and is invited to leadership meetings that you aren't. 

A select few people in your position might be able to brush this off, telling themselves, Hey, maybe next quarter, it’ll be my time to shine. But for most, this kind of setback can trigger a shift in attitude and a steep drop in job satisfaction. Tasks you used to enjoy now feel burdensome, and you might even start questioning whether it’s worth staying at the company at all.

Hold on, what changed? Not your title, not your salary, but your perception. In other words, you’ve been relatively deprived. Even though your conditions stayed the same, you now interpret the differences between yourself and your point of reference as unfair—especially because that person is someone close to you with similar qualifications and experiences.

According to relative deprivation theory (RDT), simply perceiving our situation as unjust or unfair can be just as important (or even more important) than our actual conditions. Understanding the tendency of humans to compare themselves to others can help explain why, even if someone has enough resources to live comfortably, they still may feel resentful if they believe others are better off, for no good reason. 

Relative deprivation theory is relevant beyond job promotions; it can help explain systematic instances of dissatisfaction in healthcare where disparities in access fuel frustration,  or on a smaller scale, lifestyle contexts when people are envious of others' relationships or vacations. Although RDT is rooted in perception rather than reality, perceived inequity can reflect actual inequity; therefore, it's essential to make this distinction when applying the RDT framework. Someone belonging to a marginalized group might perceive themselves as worse off because they actually are, whereas someone who is jealous of their neighbor's luxury car may feel deprived, despite no meaningful difference in overall well-being or financial security.

This theory helps explain how perceived inequality can spark drastically different responses depending on whether the deprivation is felt at an individual level or shared collectively. The opening example of RDT—a coworker receiving a promotion you feel you deserved—is an instance of egoistic deprivation, where an individual perceives personal disadvantage in comparison to others. This form of deprivation has been associated with deviant behavior like crime, substance abuse, or antisocial attitudes, in reaction to the perceived inequality. On the other hand, when deprivation is experienced at a collective level, what is known as fraternalistic deprivation, it can be a catalyst for social movements, like civil rights protests and labor strikes. But regardless of whether the deprivation is fraternalistic or egoistic, both outcomes can emerge simultaneously within different segments of the population. Ultimately, our behavior is dependent on the interplay of our environment, personal experiences, and disposition. 

Deprivation: The lack or denial of something considered essential or desirable. 

Reference Group: A person or a group of people that someone might use as a standard for comparison when evaluating their situation or status.

Egoistic deprivation: When an individual feels deprived after comparing themselves to others, even if their situation isn't objectively unfavorable.

Fraternal deprivation: When a person feels deprived because the group they belong to is treated unfairly compared to another group, often based on real or perceived inequalities.

Social comparison: When individuals assess their status, worth, or performance by using others as a benchmark. 

Gini coefficient: A statistical measure of wealth inequality within a population, values range from 0 to 1, 0 being perfect equality and 1 being perfect inequality. In 2025, South Africa was cited as having the highest value of 0.63, and Slovakia with the lowest at 0.24.²⁹

Early social theorists like Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville observed that people's dissatisfaction often stems not from absolute poverty, but from inequality and comparison. Whilst many thinkers shared this hypothesis, the first actual study conducted was by American sociologist Samuel Stouffer during the mid-twentieth century, who developed relative deprivation theory during his landmark research project, The American Soldier.

Stouffer's study involved interviewing and conducting more than 200 surveys of over half a million American soldiers during World War II. Stouffer found that soldiers' morale was not dependent on their absolute conditions, but on how they compared themselves to each other.² For example, soldiers in the military police (MP) corps had fewer opportunities for promotion than those in the air corps. Surprisingly, air corps soldiers were more dissatisfied with promotion rates than MPs, despite having more promotions on average. In response, Stouffer concluded that this was because in the Air Corps, promotions were a stronger expectation—so if a soldier didn't get promoted, they felt ashamed or isolated. Whereas, for MPs, promotions were rare in that branch, so when a soldier wasn't promoted, they weren't as disappointed.³

In his 1949 book entitled The American Soldier, Stouffer first introduced the concept of relative deprivation, explaining that “a man's satisfaction depends not on the objective situation, but on the situation relative to what he sees around him."⁴ Stouffer’s experiments laid the foundation for future research as it shifted psychologists' focus from absolute measures like salary, benefits, title, when trying to explain why people in objectively good conditions are still dissatisfied. 

While at Trinity College, Cambridge, sociologist Garry Runciman built upon Stouffer’s work in his 1966 book Relative Deprivation and Social Justice by formalizing the theory and making an important distinction between two different types of relative deprivation: egoistic and fraternalistic. Egoistic deprivation refers to feelings of deprivation that arise from comparisons between an individual and others, while fraternal deprivation refers to feelings of deprivation that arise when one's group is seen as disadvantaged compared to another group.⁵ 

Thomas Pettigrew, one of Stouffer's students at Harvard University in the 1960s, took a closer look at how fraternalistic deprivation manifested in the context of racial discrimination during the civil rights movement. Across decades of research, Pettigrew has consistently found that group-based deprivation is a stronger motivator for social movements than egoistic deprivation because it encourages collective action due to shared experience. Throughout the late 20th century, Pettigrew also explored how relative deprivation can lead to intergroup hostility and applied his findings to explain attitudes among African Americans in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement. Pettigrew posited that while African Americans' frustration may have been “relative,” it was entirely justified, rooted in structural inequalities and comparisons to more advantaged white groups, which could understandably foster feelings of resentment toward the outgroup.⁶ 

In the early 21st century, a pair of psychologists named Walker & Smith investigated how relative deprivation actually leads to action. They did this by solidifying the link between relative deprivation theory and Henri Tajfel's social identity theory, which suggests that an individual's sense of self stems from the groups that they belong to. Walker & Smith argued that a simple perception of injustice alone is not enough; to take action, we must identify with the group strongly, feel angry about the deprivation, and believe that the collective action will result in change.⁷ 

In today's society, we are still examining the modern ways in which RDT manifests. Political philosopher Michael Sandel, for example, argues that meritocracy by nature leads to inevitable perceptions of unfairness, especially among those who feel left behind despite following the rules.⁸ Similarly, sociologist Arlie Hochschild’s book Strangers in Their Own Land captures the deeply felt, though not always objectively measurable, sense of loss among U.S. conservatives in the 21st century.⁹ Her work offers a compelling example of how perceived deprivation continues to shape our social and political landscape.

Samuel Stouffer

An American sociologist who established relative deprivation theory and was the first to develop survey techniques for research. Stouffer was best known for his research surrounding the attitudes of soldiers in World War II, and spent most of his career trying to answer the question: how does one measure attitudes? Stouffer published several volumes of his book series The American Soldier and also Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties, where he shares his personal thoughts on sociological structures and psychological mechanisms.¹⁰ 

Walter Garrison Runciman

A British sociologist who studied at Trinity College and Cambridge University. In his book Relative Deprivation and Social Justice, Runicman uses historical data and survey data as evidence for the two types of relative deprivation: fraternalistic and egoistic.¹¹ 

Thomas F. Pettigrew

An American social psychologist who has been at the forefront of research on racial prejudice for the last half a century, with RDT being the focus of a number of his studies. Pettigrew is an expert in social relations between Black and white Americans, but has also conducted research in parts of Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Despite formally retiring in 1994, he has continued to study racial prejudice well into the 2020s.¹²

Iain Walker & Heather Smith

In 2002, Iain Walker, a psychology professor at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, and Heather J. Smith, a psychology professor at Sonoma State University in California, co-wrote Relative Deprivation: Specification, Development, and Integration, a book where they established the connection between relative deprivation and social identity theory.⁷

Although relative deprivation theory primarily helps explain both an individual's sense of injustice and their corresponding reaction, understanding how it operates can lead to positive outcomes. Some of the most influential social movements throughout history can be interpreted alongside RDT, and likewise, some of society's biggest challenges can be solved when viewed through its lens. 

Psychological insight into social movements

Relative deprivation theory helps explain not only the psychological origins of a social movement but also how they escalate and evolve over time. The process normally begins with an individual comparing themself to a reference group, which could be anyone from peers to people online. Regardless of whether their situation is objectively “good” or “bad,” the perception that others are better off can generate powerful feelings of deprivation. These feelings, while initially internal, can become a catalyst for action when reinforced by shared group experiences or framed as a moral injustice rather than mere misfortune. When these perceptions align with conducive timing and political opportunity, what begins as individual discontent can transform into coordinated collective action—and, ultimately, an organized social movement.

The #MeToo movement of the late 2010s offers an example of how each key ingredient of RDT is in the recipe for the emergence and momentum of a social movement. At its core, #MeToo empowered survivors to share their experiences of sexual harassment, which fostered a strong sense of ingroup unity among affected women. When comparing themselves to the reference group—which, in this case, was typically men seen as less likely to experience these violations—they recognized a clear (but subjective) collective deprivation. Crucially, this perceived inequality was not merely “unfortunate” but morally wrong and rooted in systemic power imbalances; although perception is "subjective,” oftentimes it's rooted in a tragically true reality. 

While “Me Too” was initially coined back in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, the movement took off in 2017 after actress Alyssa Milano tweeted “Me Too” during the height of Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault case.¹³ Timing working in conjunction with social media accelerated the movement by converting private grievances into public solidarity, maximizing the movement's reach and impact.

Awareness Promotion

When relative deprivation theory draws attention to hidden or normalized inequalities, it can encourage us to take an alternative and more strategic approach to addressing social issues. Ensuring everyone's basic needs are covered is the bare minimum and obvious solution; the greater challenge lies in filling the gaps between social groups—which, as we’ve discovered, is usually what adds fuel to the fire for inspiring action. In other words, people don't rebel because they have nothing; they rebel because they think they deserve as much as others. 

Recognizing these structural differences is essential for dismantling systemic patterns that are usually hidden but at the root of perpetuating most group-based advantages. For instance, rather than asking, “Why did students from this school fail to get into top universities?”, which implicitly blames individual students for these shortcomings, RDT promotes us to reframe the question from a systematic lens, wondering instead: “Students from this school got into top universities—what's different?” Through the comparative lens that RDT inspires, one might notice that a higher performing school has advanced college prep classes, whereas a school in a low-income district may lack these opportunities.¹⁴ 

Informing Policy and Intervention

Now that we know that comparisons constitute a central mechanism for social judgment, we can alleviate social tensions by designing interventions that better acknowledge these relative disparities. For example, instead of measuring absolute poverty, which focuses on one extreme, we can adopt measures like the Gini coefficient, which examines wealth distribution across the whole socioeconomic spectrum.¹⁵ By incorporating data from the top, middle, and bottom, the Gini coefficient acknowledges the subjective experiences of those who feel relatively deprived compared to others at different points on the continuum. Consequently, this relative measurement better informs policymakers and validates the perceptions of individuals who may feel unfairly disadvantaged. 

While policies like universal healthcare and basic income may ensure that everyone shares a common baseline, they are not necessarily vessels for closing the gap by motivating upward mobility (the ability to improve one's socioeconomic status over time).¹⁶ As wealth and poverty often cycle across generations, upward mobility initiatives can help reduce relative deprivation in the long term. For example, many companies have introduced upskilling programs aimed at helping employees advance their careers: PepsiCo's MyEducation program helped employees become 1.7 times more likely to receive a promotion or role change, and reports included testimonials from administrative assistants who transitioned to food-service analysts after earning a data analytics certificate.¹⁷ This shows that RDT can alert us that there are gaps, and we can foster genuine socioeconomic progress by recognizing relative disparities and then actively expanding opportunities. 

While being a powerful lens, relative deprivation theory only gives us a part of the picture. Although RDT is a compelling approach for diagnosing discontent, it is insufficient as a standalone predictor of what will happen in practice. In most cases, RDT needs to be combined with contextual factors to fully explain real-world behaviors, as no single theory can account for the complexity of every unequal social circumstance. 

Overemphasis on subjective perception, not reality

To what degree can relative deprivation theory actually be an accurate predictor of human behavior and real-world outcomes? When approaching this question, two main concerns emerge. The first is the fact that people may feel deprived even when they are objectively well-off—for example, a middle-class person scrolling social media who constantly compares themselves to billionaires online. The second is that people who are objectively suffering may not experience relative deprivation because they don't have access to a reference group. For example, someone living in absolute poverty in an isolated community might have normalized hardship and thus feel less anger or urgency despite being the one who is “worse off.” So while RDT offers insight into perceptions of inequality, at times it is limited by the subjective nature of comparisons. 

Another limitation of RDT is that it often overexplains protest and underexplains inaction. Feelings of deprivation can lead to a desire for change, but not everyone who feels deprived actually mobilizes. There is a range of things people may consider first: Is there a group I can join? What are risks? Will anything actually change if I act? These questions highlight the roles of social networks, perceived efficacy, and personal risk calculation in motivating change—which all fall outside of RDT's scope. Harvard University political scientist Erica Chenowest found that it only takes 3.5% of a given population actively participating in a peaceful protest to ensure legitimate political change.¹⁸ Although this seems like a small percentage, it's really hard to get that many people to participate, even if they feel they are being relatively deprived. 

Overlooking resilience and agency

Not everyone responds to inequality with frustration—some respond with resilience and growth-oriented mindsets. RDT can underestimate human adaptability by assuming that deprivation naturally leads to dissatisfaction, but in reality, responses to deprivation are pretty diverse. 

For instance, many marginalized people, when facing exclusion, often channel energy into building strong community networks. Take the Harlem Renaissance: although it arose from deep systemic racial segregation, it was not a protest movement; instead, it was a major cultural and intellectual shift where African Americans forged a sense of identity by celebrating Black artistry and subtly began to challenge negative stereotypes. Even though this Renaissance laid the foundation for the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, it occurred decades later, showing that the repercussions of inequality do not always fit neatly with the expectations of relative deprivation theory.¹⁹

Ambiguity in measurement

It would be great if we could ask, “Is this group more deprived relative to that group?” and get a straightforward answer. However, measuring the primary mechanism in relative deprivation theory—perception—is unfortunately quite complex. Researchers use Likert scales or interviews to measure perceived inequality quantitatively or qualitatively, but comparing the subjective experiences between two groups remains methodologically challenging.²⁰ No individuals experience the same context in the same way, meaning that reference groups can vary drastically from person to person, even if they come from similar circumstances. 

In fact, different people's own sense of deprivation may shift dramatically depending on who they are comparing themselves to at any given moment. For example, a worker in Berlin earning $15/hour might feel fortunate when comparing themself to a cousin in Texas earning just $7.25/hour. But that same worker may feel deprived when comparing themself to a friend in Geneva earning nearly $30/hour for similar work. Although the worker's objective income remains the same, their subjective experience shifts depending on who they’re comparing themselves to, highlighting relative deprivation theory’s measurement challenge.

Numerous historical examples demonstrate how the fluidity of RDT makes it difficult to standardize or apply consistently across populations and time periods. In 2011, riots broke out across London and lasted five days following the police shooting of a Black man named Mark Duggan. Although it was understood that the immediate trigger was tension between the police and the Black community, policymakers struggled to pinpoint the underlying causes of the riots. Many of the people involved came from economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, suggesting that income inequality may have been a central source of deprivation. Others may have been driven by racial profiling, and others may have been influenced by media-fueled comparisons, becoming more acutely aware of the opportunities they lacked and prejudices they faced that others did not.²¹ Regularly, RCT groups together overlapping sources of deprivation, highlighting how diverse reference groups and personal circumstances can lead individuals to experience multiple forms of inequality at once.

GamerGate 2014

GamerGate was an online harassment campaign in 2014 that targeted women in the gaming community, as they were seen as challengers to traditionally male-dominated gaming culture norms. Male video game players started GamerGate when videogame developer Zoë Quinn released Depression Quest, a narrative game where the player assumed the role of someone with depression and had to navigate daily life. The plotline departed from the typical violence-heavy formats, and gamers claimed that it invited too much “political correctness” into the gaming space. The growing visibility of women in the gaming world marked a shift in the community—one that was met with hostility, including rape and death threats directed at Quinn.²² This GamerGate movement further expanded when feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women YouTube series dropped an episode analyzing female representation in video games, and she faced a level of online harassment that forced her to flee home due to safety concerns.²³ 

Why did people get so angry? It's just gaming, isn’t it? In this scenario, RDT can offer an insightful lens. As women and critics of toxic masculinity gained more visibility in gaming, some men felt a relative loss of influence, even though their actual conditions hadn't changed. They compared the current video game space to a previous one where they had complete control over the cultural voice, despite them still being the dominant figures in the industry and being able to continue to enjoy their original games. What didn't help and only further fueled relative deprivation were online forums on Reddit and Twitter, where much of the harassment occurred, allowing upset individuals to validate each other's feelings of deprivation, transforming GamerGate into a collective identity movement fueled by shared resentment.²⁴ 

South Korea's “Hell Joseon”

South Korea is known for its hyper-competitive performance culture, driven by intense emphasis on academic achievement, admission to prestigious universities, and securing high-status jobs. Parents often invest substantial time and resources into their children's education, promoting a high-pressure environment and relentless expectations. For many Koreans growing up, they are made to believe that hard work and academic success will guarantee a prosperous future; however, even after graduating from top universities, many young adults in Korea find they face stagnant wages, high housing costs, and job insecurity.²⁵ 

Most young Koreans, by global standards, are not poor and are proportionately well-off, but still, many perceive a disconnect between their efforts and the rewards they were promised. South Korea's older generations benefited from rapid industrialization and economic growth, and are often regarded by the younger population as having “hoarded” opportunities while also being the architects of the current hyper-competitive system.²⁶ After comparing themselves to this reference group and dealing with expectations that they grew up around, many young Koreans have expressed frustration and disillusionment. 

The term “Hell Joseon” (“Joseon” meaning Korea) captures young Koreans' increasing dissatisfaction with the economic inequalities and bleak prospects. In response, trends like delayed or avoided marriage, or ‘quiet quitting’ (meeting the minimum requirements of their job because they feel undercompensated) have become more and more common among the “N-Po generation,” a term they coined for themselves as the generation of “giver uppers.”^27,28 Despite their basic needs being met, many N-Po’s experience high levels of relative deprivation, fueled by constant competitive benchmarking and a sense of betrayal by a society that promised more than it delivered.

To Be Right or Liked? Evaluating political decision-making 

We don't care about the truth as much as we might think; in fact, we attend to most information in biased ways that protect our beliefs. This routine is often what leads to egoistic relative deprivation. Whether it's due to heuristic thinking or motivated reasoning, this article discusses why it's hard for us to approach information impartially. 

Social Comparison Theory

It's clear that as human beings, we have the tendency to compare ourselves to others—but why? When objective standards are missing, we resort to drawing comparisons to make sure we are on the right track. Social comparison theory attempts to explain why we do this, and this article highlights ways in which it manifests itself in the real world, like relative deprivation. 

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