Relative deprivation

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Relative deprivation is the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes oneself to be entitled to have.[1]
Schaefer defines it as "the conscious experience of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities."[2] It is a term used in social sciences to describe feelings or measures of economic, political, or social deprivation that are relative rather than absolute.[3]
The concept of relative deprivation has important consequences for both behavior and attitudes, including feelings of stress, political attitudes, and participation in collective action. It is relevant to researchers and students in social psychology, sociology, economics, politics, animal ethics, and other social sciences, especially those interested in prejudice, social identity, group processes, social justice, and social movements.[1] Its origins are from the biological concept of relative fitness, where an organism that successfully outproduces its competitors leaves more copies in the gene pool.