The theory that emphasises the role of psychological factors such as…

Read the below passage and answer the question :

The repertoire of Satyagraha

The fusion of foreign power and capital was the focus of social protest during India's nationalist struggle. Mahatma Gandhi wore khadi, hand-spun, hand-woven cloth, to support Indian cotton growers, spinners and weavers whose livelihoods had been destroyed by the government policy of favouring mill-made cloth. The legendary Dandi March to make salt was a protest against British taxation policies that placed a huge burden on consumers of basic commodities in order to benefit the empire. Gandhi took items of everyday mass consumption like cloth and salt, and transformed them into symbols of resistance.

The theory that emphasises the role of psychological factors such as resentment and rage in inciting social movements is called:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Theory of Relative Deprivation

Option (1) Theory of Relative Deprivation — Correct. According to this theory, social conflict arises when a social group feels that it is worse off than others around it, and such conflict is likely to result in collective protest. It therefore stresses psychological factors such as resentment and rage. Its limit is that a feeling of deprivation is a necessary condition but not a sufficient one: not every group that feels deprived starts a movement.

Option (2) Resource Mobilisation theory — Incorrect. McCarthy and Zald’s theory holds that a movement’s success depends on its ability to mobilise resources such as leadership, organisational capacity and communication facilities. It looks at the means a movement can gather, not at the feelings of its members.

Option (3) Mancur Olson’s theory — Incorrect. In The Logic of Collective Action, Mancur Olson sees a social movement as an aggregation of rational individuals pursuing their self-interest. A person joins only if he or she gains something and the risks are less than the gains, so the theory rests on calculation, not on resentment or rage.

Option (4) Functionalist theory — Incorrect. Functionalism looks at society as a system of parts, each of which plays a part in keeping the whole stable and integrated. Sociologists concerned with social order and integration, such as Emile Durkheim, saw social movements as forces that led to disorder; this view does not explain movements by the anger of a deprived group.

Note 1: The section ‘Theories of Social Movements’ of the chapter ‘Social Movements’, which explains the theory of relative deprivation, Mancur Olson’s theory and the resource mobilisation theory, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This portion has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter is still there.

Note 2: The concept in Option (4), ‘functionalist theory’, is not in the pre-rationalised NCERT, nor in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.

NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “Theories of Social Movements … According to the theory of relative deprivation, social conflict arises when a social group feels that it is worse off than others around it. Such conflict is likely to result in successful collective protest. This theory emphasises the role of psychological factors such as resentment and rage in inciting social movements. The limitations of this theory are that while perceptions of deprivation may be a necessary condition for collective action, they are not a sufficient reason in themselves. All instances where people feel relatively deprived do not result in social movements.…”

“Mancur Olson’s book The Logic of Collective Action argues that a social movement is an aggregation of rational individual actors pursuing their self-interest. A person will join a social movement only if s/he will gain something from it. S/he will participate only if the risks are less than the gains.…”

“McCarthy and Zald’s proposed resource mobilisation theory rejected Olson’s assumption that social movements are made up of individuals pursuing their self-interest. Instead, they argued that a social movement’s success depends on its ability to mobilise resources or means of different sorts. If a movement can muster resources such as leadership, organisational capacity, and communication facilities, and can use them within the available political opportunity structure, it is more likely to be effective.…”