Author Description

This book reports the results of a three-year intensive interview study of more than 400 working women, working men, and housewives, undertaken to evaluate and refine the theory of relative deprivation. The theory proposes that one's resentments and dissatisfactions are not simply a function of one's objective situation, but depend on a variety of cognitive and emotional factors. Crosby concludes that felt grievances depend directly on the individual's wants and feelings of entitlement, and explains how the theory of relaitve deprivation accounts for the female worker who expresses satisfaction with an objectively unsatisfactory situation.