Most contingency theories reduce to relative-deprivation theory as Gurr advanced it.

Evidence

Contingency theories of collective violence pivot on the notion of systemic breakdown where homeostatic devices normally provide negative en-tropy. It has been pointed out, correctly, that this implies sharp discontinuities between routine and nonroutine political activity, that the cause of violent action must be discontinuous (rapid, extensive) change in the context of politics, and that collective and individual behavioral pathologies should significantly covary, the former being a “version” of the latter (Tilly, 1978, pp. 23–24). Almost all such theories are subsumable under the notion of relative-deprivation theory, of which Gurr has been the leading exponent. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4286

Categorization

• XREF: SIT frames in this same volume must distinguish their claims from Gurr’s relative-deprivation aggression account; this positions social identity theory against an individual-frustration baseline.