Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:13:00.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relative Deprivation Revisited: A Response to Miller, Bolce, and Halligan*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Faye Crosby
Faye Crosby*
Affiliation:
Yale University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article challenges some of the conclusions drawn in “The J-Curve Theory and the Black Urban Riots,” by Abraham Miller, Louis Bolce and Mark Halligan (1977). Miller et al. reject relative deprivation theory and J-curve theory as valid explanations of black urban rioting. In my argument that Miller et al. are not justified in rejecting relative deprivation theory, I shall review four versions of relative deprivation theory to show how Miller et al. misrepresent the theory and to point out methodological problems with their operationalization of theoretical variables. Because these operationalization problems are far from atypical, I conclude with a call for greater methodological rigor.

Type
Article Commentary
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 103 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The writing of this article was supported in part by Biomedical Research Support Grant, 5-SO7-RR07015 from NIH. I would like to thank Laurie Rhodebeck for her comments on earlier drafts and Morty Bernstein for his statistical help.

References

Adams, J. Stacy (1965). “Inequity in Social Exchange.” In Berkowitz, Leonard (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brickman, Philip, and Campbell, Donald T. (1971). “Hedonic Relativism and Planning in the Good Society.” In Appley, M. H. (ed.), Adaptation Level Theory: A Symposium. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Butler, R. J. (1976). “Relative Deprivation and Power: A Switched Replication Design Using Time Series Data of Strike Rates in American and British Coal Mining.” Human Relations 29:623–41.Google Scholar
Caplan, Nathan, and Paige, John M. (1968). “A Study of Ghetto Rioters.” Scientific American 219, No. 2:15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Thomas D., Crosby, Faye, and Hennigan, Karen (1977). “The Construct Validity of Relative Deprivation.” In Suls, Jerry and Miller, Richard (eds.), Social Comparison Processes. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Crosby, Faye (1976). “A Model of Egoistical Relative Deprivation.” Psychological Review 83:85–113.Google Scholar
Davies, James C. (1962). “Toward a Theory of Revolution.” American Sociological Review 6:5–19.Google Scholar
Davies, James C. (1969). “The J-Curve of Rising and Declining Satisfactions as a Cause of Some Great Revolutions and a Contained Rebellion.” In Graham, Hugh Davis and Gurr, Ted Robert (eds.), Violence in America. New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Davis, James A. (1959). “A Formal Interpretation of the Theory of Relative Deprivation.” Sociometry 20:280–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feierabend, Ira, and Feierabend, Rosalind (1967). “Aggressive Behaviors with Politics 1948–1962: A Cross-National Study.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 11:264–80.Google Scholar
Geschwender, James A. (1964). “Social Structure and the Negro Revolt: An Examination of Some Hypotheses.” Social Forces 43:248–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert (1968). “A Causal Model of Civil Strife: A Comparative Analysis Using New Indices. “ American Political Science Review 62:1104–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert (1970). Why Men Rebel. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Karen, Hennigan (1977). “The Construct Validity of Relative Deprivation: Conceptual and Empirical Analyses.” Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.Google Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas (1974). Industrial Conflict in Advanced Industrial Societies. Cambridge: MIT Center for International Studies.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert (1973). “The Changing Tolerance for Income Inequality in the Course of Economic Development.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 87:544–66.Google Scholar
Lieberson, Stanley, and Silverman, Arnold (1965). “The Precipitants and Underlying Conditions of Race Riots.” American Sociological Review 30:887–98.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, A. D. J. (1970). Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Joanne, Martin (1978). “The Perils of Prosperity.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
McPhail, Clark (1971). “Civil Disorder Participation: A Critical Examination of Recent Research.” American Sociological Review 36:1058–73.Google Scholar
Mednick, Martha T. S., Tangri, Sandra, and Hoffman, Lois W., eds. (1975). Women and Achievement. Social and Motivational Analyses. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert and Rossi, Alice (1957). “Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behavior.” In Merton, Robert (ed.), Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Abraham, Bolce, Louis, and Halligan, Mark (1977). “The J-Curve Theory and the Black Urban Riots: An Empirical Test of Progressive Relative Deprivation Theory.” American Political Science Review 71:964–82.Google Scholar
Nagel, Jack (1974). “Inequality and Discontent.” World Politics 26:453–72.Google Scholar
Patchen, Martin (1961). The Choice of Wage Comparisons. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F. (1964). A Profile of the Negro American. Princeton: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F. (1967). “Social Evaluation Theory.” In Levine, David (ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Vol. 15. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Runciman, W. G. (1966). Relative Deprivation and Social Justice: A Study of Attitudes to Social Inequality in Twentieth Century England. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Jack (1971). “Relative Deprivation: A Politically Biased Concept.” Psychiatry 34:97–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sears, David O., and McConahay, John S. (1970). “Racial Socialization, Comparison Levels, and the Watts Riot.” Journal of Social Issues 26:121–40.Google Scholar
Sears, David O., and McConahay, John S. (1973). The Politics of Violence: The New Urban Blacks and the Watts Riot. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Shorter, Edward, and Tilly, Charles (1974). Strikes in France, 1830–1968. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stouffer, S. A., Suchman, E. A., DeVinney, L. C., Star, S. A., and Williams, R. M. (1949). The American Soldier: Adjustments During Army Life, Vol. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Useem, Michael (1975). Protest Movements in America. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Williams, Robin M. Jr. (1976). “Relative Deprivation versus Power Struggle.” The Cornell Journal of Social Relations 2:31–38.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.