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5 Rebellion and Relative Deprivation Millennial movements in traditional societies are reactionary, seeking to re-create a legendary golden age often through cultural, and occasionally genetic, puri¤cation. On the other hand, they are fundamentally revolutionary in that their ideological agenda can usually only be implemented through the removal of a certain strata of society.1 They are also revolutionary in the true sense of the word, for they often seek a recurrence of a time past, however idealized . Two elements run through revitalization,nativistic, and millennial movements : their emergence in a context of stress, broadly de¤ned, and their leadership by charismatic individuals who explain why things have gone the way they have and who can lead the way out. If all is well, and there is no general perception of a crisis, radical prescriptions for the future tend to fall on deaf ears. The stress that does cause people to view the world in a new way comes in many forms and is central not only to the rise of millennialism but to the rise of social violence generally. Both can erupt as a result of intense and socially widespread frustrations in a context where people feel they lack the means to achieve their aspirations. Relative deprivation theory offers a valuable tool for understanding the outbreak of social violence.2 Relative deprivation is a gauge of social discontent that refers to the gap between one’s expectations, or those “events, objects, and conditions” that one believes he or she should be able to have or experience, and one’s ability to attain them. Means are critical here. It is not the difference between what people have and what they want but between what they have and what they reasonably believe they can achieve. Relative deprivation is thus predicated on both individual perceptions and what are culturally speci¤c and socially accepted de¤nitions of “reasonable.” Furthermore , it requires some benchmark, or norm, upon which to measure variation. There are three basic types of values, both tangible and intangible, around which people’s aspirations develop: those of welfare, power, and an “interpersonal ” nature.3 Welfare values concern standard-of-living issues, physical health, and mental development, whereas power values concern issues of individual or group autonomy, control by others, and political participation. Finally, interpersonal values concern one’s position and participation in a community and relations with others.4 Several factors determine the likelihood of social unrest. These include the degree to which the gap between expectations and abilities is felt in a society, in terms of numbers of people and the strength of the perception, the rapidity with which the gap develops, and the degree of the perception that relationships are based on a zero sum game. As all of these factors increase, so does the risk of social violence.5 Other facilitating factors include the degree to which socialization practices promote the perception that violence is a legitimate currency for the expression of frustration, the leadership promoting or discouraging it, and the legitimacy, vitality, and coercive resources of a regime.6 The amount of violence that these forces produce will depend on the available avenues of political articulation, the cohesion of the regime’s coercive resources, the degree of organization, discipline, and unity among the opposition, and the intelligence-gathering abilities of each side.7 One form of relative deprivation often associated with nativistic millennialism is decremental deprivation, which re®ects the gap between relatively stable expectation patterns and a relatively sudden and dramatic drop in the ability to meet them. Abilities drop while expectations remain the same.8 Displaced native elites, suddenly relegated to minor if any roles in a colonial arrangement , experience decremental deprivation. This is often the harbinger of more to come, as the extractive nature of the relationship between colonial rulers and their subjects creates signi¤cant economic hardships for the masses, who often had only modest surpluses to begin with. When ethnic differences are superimposed on exploitative relationships, the risk of an uprising assuming an exterminatory dimension increases. Other sources of stress causing decremental deprivation include policies concerning agricultural production, labor , religion, tribute, and taxation.9 Related to decremental deprivation is the concept of “moral economy,” which examines the perceived legitimacy of accommodative relationships between rulers and ruled.10 While resentment of colonialism may be constant, unrest is not. However, when the “colonial bargain” is changed, for example, when taxes are increased or new ones imposed, the decremental deprivation that such policies...

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