2T46 SO CI ALCO G NI TIO N

has allowed researchers to demonstrate

5th edn.Washington,DC: American Psychiatric
Publishing. how the choice of comparisonothers pro-
duces upsetting or calming cognitions and
FURTHERREADING feelings (Zanna, Crosby, and Loewenstetn
Frith, C. D. 2008. Social Cognition'
Philo'- 1987).SCT continuesto inform a variety oi
sophical Transactions of the Royal S::i'll^:! research settings (Berren and Gillis 1976;
fondon. Series 363(1499):
B: BiologicalSciences' Mumford 1983;Sheeran,Abrams,and Orbell
2033-2039. I 995).
Closely linked to SCT is the concept ol
relativedeprivationfirst proposedby Samuel
Stouffer and colleagues (1949)' Reiative
SocialComParison deprivationtheory (RDT) positsthat feelings
like
of deprivation and cognate emotions
Theory resentment, anger, and frustration rarely
FAYECROSBYand VERONICA HAMILTON arise becauseof absolute conditions and
often arise becauseof comparisonsto real
University of California, Santa Cruz' USA

and lmagined others. You love your To1-

(Crosby
ota until your friend buys a Tesla
Pe o p l el i v e i n c o mmuni ti es;communi ti es
re76).
ul*uy, contain inequalities'Sometimespeo-
Researchers have sought the precise
ole iolerate and even welcome inequalities'
preconditions thatproducefeelingsof resent-
Sometimespeople dislike social inequalities'
Lent (Carrillo et al. 2011; Walker and
and experience anger' frustration' resent-
P etti grew1984).The mere compa r isono[
ment, or guilt in the face of them' Over
o.r".!if or one's group to better-off others
the last 60 years, two concepts - social
does not automatically produce negatle
c o mp a ri s o na n d re l a ti vedepri vati on- have
emotions.Feelingsof entitlement are a nec-
helpedexplainpeoplesvarying reactionsto al'
essarypart of the equation (Carrillo et
inequality.
2011).
Leon Festinger (1954) developed social
a Runciman (1966) distinguished between
comparison theory (SCT)' SCT posits ("egois-
feelings of individual deprivation
human drive to evaluateone'sopinions and
tical deprivation') and feelings ot group
abilities and notes that social comparisons
deprivation ("fraternal deprivation')' This
areoften usedin evaluations,especiallywhen (1982)
distinction was at the heart of Crosbys
objectivemeasuresare unavailable'Accord- RDT and led to the
major empirical test of
ing to SCT,the stabilityof peoplesevaluations in disadvantaged
that individuals
s opi ni onsi s conti ngent discovery
o f th e i ro w n a b i l i ti e or
groups often engagein what Crosby called
on comParisonsto similar others' Tthe - when
ienlal ofpersonal disadvantage"
One early problem of SCT was its appar- ar e
i ndi vi dual si magi nethat they personally
ent circularity: commentatorswould claim
exempt from the discrimination that afects
th a t i n d i v i d u a l sh a d becomeupsetbecause
their group' Others have also shown how
they had compared themselvesto better-off
feelings of deprivation or resentmentcon-
others, and yet the proof that individuals
tribute to socialprotest (Dub6 and Guimond
had compared themselvesto better-off oth- Y i tzhaki1982) '
1986;W al kerand Mann 1987r
e rs w a s th a t th e y w ere upset'S how i nghow the ways
Recently, researchhas investigated
referencegroups,self-identity'and proximity is correlated
in which relative deprivation
all shapethe choice of "comparisonothers"
 S O C I A LC O M P A R I S O NT H E OR Y 2 1 4 7

with intergroup prejudice (Pettigrew et al. Intergroup Prejudice.lournal of Social Issues,

hers to demonstrate 64(2):385-40r.
2008) .
rmparisonothers Pro- Runciman,Walter. 1966.RelativeDeprivationand
Where is reiative deprivation (RD) research
ilming cognitions and SocialJustice:A Study of Attitudes to Social
headed? In a recent meta-analysis, Smith Inequality in 20th Century England. London:
,sby,and Loewenstein
and colleagues (2012) recommend that Routledge and Kegan Pau1.
to inform a varrety or
researchersexamine how feelings of personal Sheeran,Paschal,Abrams, Dominic, and Orbeli,
:rren and Gillis 1976;
and group deprivation relate to ideology and Sheina. 1995. Unemployment, Self-esteem,
an,Abrams,and Orbell and Depression:A Social Comparison Theory
identity. They also propose that future RD
researchcan also help understand intergroup Approach.Basicand Applied SocialPsychology,
SCT is the concePt of 17(I-2):65-82.
relations and angry resentment. Finally,
rst proPosedbY Samuel Smith, Heather J., Pettigrew Thomas F., Pippin'
Smith et aI. (2012) suggest there is room for
rgues (i949). Relative Gina M., and Bialosiewicz, Silvana. 2012'
development of nuanced measurements for Relative Deprivation: A Theoretical and
tOT) posltsthat feelings
RD in order to revitalize work in the field. Meta-Anal1'ticReview. Personalityand Social
cognateemotions like
Psychology Review,16(3):203 232.
and frustration rarely SEEALSO: ClassConflict; Inequality; Social
StoulTer, Samuel A., Lumsdaine, Arthur A.,
bsoluteconditions and Psychology Lumsdaine, Marion Harper, et al. 1949- The
of comParisonsto real American Soldier: Combat and Its Aftermath'
rs. You love Your ToY- REFERENCES Princeton,Nj: PrincetonUniversityPress.
rd buys a Tesla (CrosbY Berren,MichaelR. and Gillis,JohnS. 1976.TheUse Walker, Iain and Mann, Leon. 1987.Unemploy-
of "FailureModels": An Application of Social ment, RelativeDeprivation, and SocialProtest'
ComparisonTheory to Changing Maladaptive Personalityand SocialPsychologyBulletin' 13(2):
,e sought the Precise
of resent- Attitudes.I ournal of Contemporary Psychother 275 283.
,roduce feelings
and apy , B( r ) : 47- 5r . Walker, Iain and Pettigrew Thomas F 1984.Re1-
al. 2011; Walker
Carrillo, Jenny, Corning, Alexandra, Den- ative Deprivation Theory: An Overview and
le mere comParison of nehy,Tara, and Crosby, Faye. 2011' Relative Conceptual Critique. British lournal of Social
:oup to better-off others Deprivation:Understandingthe Dynamics of Psychology, 23(4):301-310.
rically Produce negative Discontent.In Theoriesin Social Psycholog' Yitzhaki, Shlomo. 1982.RelativeDeprivation and
o f ent itl e me natr e a nec - edited by Derek Chadee, 140-160. Oxford: Economic Welfare.EuropeanEconomicReview,
equation(Carrillo et al' Wiley Blackwell. 17(1):99 113.
Crosby,Faye.1976.AModel of EgoisticalRelative Zanna, Mark P., Crosby, Faye, and Loewen-
Deprivation. Psychological Review, 83: B5- 113. stein, George. 1987. Male ReferenceGroups
6) distinguishedbetween In
Crosby,Faye. 7982. Relative Deprivation and and Discontentamong FemaleProfessionals'
dual dePrivation ("egois- WorkingWomen.New York: Oxford University Woman'sCareer Development, editedbyBarbara
) and feelings of grouP Press. A. Gutek and Laurie Larwood. Beverly Hills,
ernal dePrivation" )' This Dub6, Lise and Guimond, Serge. 1986. Rel- CA: SAGE.
heheartof CrosbY's(1982) ative Deprivation and Social Protest: The
:st of RDT and led to the Personal-Group Issue.In RelativeDeprivation
FURTHER READING
andSo cialComp ar ison: TheO ntario Symposium,
lividuals in disadvantaged
editedby iames M. Olson, C. Peter Herman, Crosby,Faye.1984.RelativeDeprivation in Orga-
lge in what CrosbY called nizational Settings.Researchin Organizational
andMark P. Zanna,vol. 4, 201-216. Hillsdale'
ronaldisadvantagd'- when B e h a v i o r , 65: 1 - 9 3 .
Nf: Lawrence Erlbaum.
ne that theY PersonallYare Leon.1954.A TheoryofSocial Compar-
Festinger, Samuel,William. 1973.On Clarifying SomeInter-
discriminationthat affects isonProcesses. HumanRelations,7(2): 117-I40. pretations of Social Comparison Theoty.Iour
ers have also shown how Mumford,Michael.1983.SocialComparisonThe- nal of Experimental Social Psychology,9(5):
vation or resentment con- ory and the Evaluation of Peer Evaluations: A 450-465.
ReviewandSomeAppliedImplications.Person- Walker, Iain and Smith, Heather J. 2002. Flfly
rrotest(Dub6 and Guimond In Rela-
nelPsychology, 36(4):867-881. Yearsof RelativeDeprivation Research.
Mann 1987;Yitzhaki 1982)' tive D eprivation: Specif cation,D evelopment,and
Pettigrew,Thomas F., Christ, Oliver, Wagner'
h has investigated the waYs Integration,edited by lain Walker and Heather
Ulrich, et al. 2008. RelativeDeprivation and
e deprivation is correlated
 __

[,
THEORY
2148 SO CI ALCO M PA R I S O N
within
Universtty 1956). With sociai conflict evident
Smith, 1-9. Cambridge:Cambridge between so
Press.
so many social institutions and
the con-
many different groups of people'
to social
flict perspective is as attractive
the seeds
scholars loduy as it was when
were first articulated by
of conflict theory
Social Conflict his ideas on soclal
Karl Marx, especially
TIMDELANEY class.
USA
of NewYorkatOswego' of world
University
State Having read widely on the topic
(1978) concluded
history oihumanity, Marx
struggle'
soci- thut uit of history is a history of class
Socialconflicttheory is a fundamental exlsts
to the study of society' He further concluded that antagonism
ological approach exploiters
that social between the exploited and the
A-"orlg its central tenetsis the idea conditions transtormeo
within every soclety because economic
conflict is inevitable wor ker s
and the social the masses(the prol etari at)i nto
becauseof the role of power labor' produced prohts
throughout who, through their
inequality found systemically (the bourgeoisie)' Through
fo, tn. capiialists
societY. aware
per- class consciousness'people become
Whereas the structural functionalist standing based on
there is of their social-economic
spectiveaccentuatesthe idea that control overthe
and norms their relativeposition to the
u garl"rul consensusin values to scarce
that social institutions are means of production and access
in society and are
whole designed resources'The relationsto production
i.t,.g.u,.d as a functioning of property'
conflict the- the result of the distribution
to iaintain stability in society' against the idea of an indi-
there is no true Marx, while not
ory underscoresclaims that (e'g" a home'
norms vidual'sright to own property
consensusand that, instead'society's thi nk that the m eansot
group' cl othi ng),di d not
and valuesare those of the dominant privately owned by
advantaged p.odrrJorl should be
or dominant interestgroups'The possession of such
its will on the subordinate iapitallsts because the
group imposes of
to maintain its power proPertybecomesa critical determination
l.o"p1t; in order the'formation of classesand the
inevitable
ld,r*tug.. The very existence of multiple
Classcon
various ievels of power development of class conflicts'
groups ihut po..ttt oI
characterized by sciousness,in turn, creates grouplngs
Lrtttt, in a stratifiedsociety The
all of which are people based on common interests'
tension,strain, and violence' with-
2014)' interests of one class are in conflict
seedsofsocialconflict(Delaney other classes' Because ot
power the interestsof the
The realization that those with of mo der n, socr
with- the grow th and compl exi ty
will want to maintain it and those
share ot eti eslconfi i crhas becomei nsti tut ionalized'
out power will want their fair restricted
natu- Conflict and antagonism are not
,ociely's valuable resources' both existsatso
that social conflict to entire economic classesbut
ral and social, assures and
resulting between sexes,races' and ethnicities'
wiil be a constant in society'This rel i gi ons'
bound comP eti ng
social conflict further establishes primarily by Marxt ideas'early
a society by Stlup"i
aries between groups within the
a1d sociologicaiconflict theory maintained
strengthening group consciou.sness societyis a systemoi,socni
estaD- perspectivethat
awareness of separateness'thus are shaped
(Coser ,trrritrr.". and relationships that
lishing the identity of each group