Relative Deprivation,Dissatisfaction, and Militancy: A Field Study In A Protest Crowd1

The links between relative deprivation (RD), dissatisfaction with financial situation, and propensity for militancy were examined in a field study of a farmers' rally in Adelaide, South Australia. The rally was held to protest the blockade of sheep exports by the meat workers' union. Consistent with Gurr's (1970) theory, a majority of protesters were relatively deprived. However, there was no support for Morrison's (1971) hypothesis that participants in a conservstive protest demonstration are in a state of “decreinental” RD. No support mas found for Gurr's postulate that RD is the basic condition for participants in collective violence. RD war significantly associated with feelings of dissatisfaction but not with predispositions toward militancy. Dissatisfaction alone was a significant predictor of militant predisposition. Factors that may act to weaken the link between RD and militancy in actual episodes of collective behavior were discussed.