Relative Deprivation In Nazi Germany

Propaganda as a visual art form has been used across history in promoting a common narrative and persuading groups of people for the purpose of achieving some type of goal. This goal could include vilifying an enemy during wartime so that young men are encouraged to enlist in the military or demonizing a group of people to turn the population against them so that ethnic cleansing is easier to carry out. Both of these goals were pursued during the American Revolution and in Nazi Germany respectfully, and during the time before the actual violence broke out. Propaganda can play a significant role in the theory of relative deprivation, in which frustration builds until an external queue occurs and turns the built-up frustration into anger, and …show more content…
The theory of relative deprivation was first introduced by Ted Robert Gurr in his book Why Men Rebel in 1970. The theory proposes that people become agitated when there is a discrepancy between what they perceive they ought to have and what they actually have (Gurr 1970). The value expectation is what a person believes they are rightfully entitled to while value capabilities are what the person actually has access to (Gurr 1970). Frustration begins to build when a person 's value expectations are not met while they also perceive that there is an actual possibility of them being met (Gurr 1970). This could be the result of value expectations rising while value capabilities remain the same or value expectations remaining stable while capabilities fall and therefore creating a discrepancy (Gurr 1970). This frustration will eventually turn into anger, which spurs violence, after an external cue is launched and causes the frustration to finally boil over into something greater (Gurr 1970). The directed violence will satisfy the angry person and could lead to even more aggressive violence, especially if the person was frustrated for a sustained