Dramatic Social Change in Russia and Mongolia Connecting Relative Deprivation to Social Identity

Two studies assess people's reactions in the midst of dramatic social change. The studies examine consequences of social change in Russia and Mongolia after the dismantlement of the Soviet Union. They focus on the impact of social changes that are numerous, negative, and rapid. Specifically, an integration of relative deprivation and social identity theories is proposed. According to hypotheses, it is found that the more people perceive social change as numerous and negative, the more they experience social collective relative deprivation. In addition, the more people perceive social change as rapid and negative, the more they express temporal collective relative deprivation. Both types of collective relative deprivation are linked to collective esteem: Whereas the path from temporal collective relative deprivation is negative in both studies, the valence of path from social collective relative deprivation to collective esteem depends on perceived in-group status of the cultural group.