Political violence stems from frustration at a gap between expectations and capabilities

Evidence

Gurr’s relative deprivation (RD) model can be summarized thus: (a) collective political violence is a form of aggression; (b) aggression results from anger, which is produced by frustration; (c) the fundamental cause of feeling frustration is an imbalance between what one gets and what one considers one’s due: in Gurr’s language, “discrepancy between men’s value expectations and their value capabilities” (Gurr, 1970b, p. 24, also Gurr, 1968a, p. 1104). Obviously, the propensity to feel frustrated and its consequences are in a special sense “inherent.” However, it is a dormant disposition until aroused by special extrinsic forces strong enough to overcome the tendency toward pacific acquiescence. The greater the scope and intensity of RD, of course, the more likely is violent behavior per se as well as at high “magnitudes” (see diagram in Gurr, 1970b, p. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4287

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Gurr’s relative deprivation model: the mismatch between value expectations and value capabilities as the core cause of frustration-aggression.
• XREF: connects to: Political silence often masks latent resentment that erupts when opportunity arises. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1634; Entrepreneurship, polarization, and rising uncertainty drive violence escalation across a boundary — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 773; Work failure, social rejection, and abuse predict resorting to political violence — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 160