Relative Deprivation and Participation in the Civil Rights Movement.

An analysis of the participation of Southern black college students in the civil rights movement is presented. Data analyses are carried out to determine possible relationships between varying patterns of relative deprivation (as measured by Cantril's Self-Anchoring Striving Scale) and passive, active or combative types of participation. The findings show that not all patterns of relative deprivation are associated with participation. For example, aspirational deprivation (defined as a gap between achievement and ideal life situation) is associated with participation only when defined in group terms, while progressive deprivation (defined as the perception of substantial past progress but little or no future progress) is not associated with any of the participation indices. The strongest relationship between participation and the various patterns of relative deprivation occurs with the combative index. It is concluded that, because many factors must be considered in analyzing mass movements (e.g., extent of participation), a typology of activities should be constructed. (Author/TL)