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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper no.7: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Module No and Title Module no.40: DISADVANTAGE AND DEPRIVATION

Module Tag PSY_P7_M40

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction

3. Disadvantaged groups

4. Consequences of deprivation

5. Explanations of deprivational effects

6. Reactions to disadvantage and deprivation

7. Measures to tackle disadvantage and deprivation

8. Summary

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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to

 Know about the concepts of disadvantage and deprivation

 Identify the consequences and reactions to disadvantage and deprivation and
 Understand disadvantage and deprivation in the Indian context
 Learn about the measures adopted by the government to tackle disadvantage and deprivation

2. Introduction
The Indian society is characterized by social, cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity. Though diversity
entails many advantages like intergroup sharing, there are also many disadvantages. Due to ethnic
diversity, there are minority groups who differ from the majority not only in numerical strength, but also
in terms of access to various resources. It is needless to say that the majority social groups have the
maximum hold over resources and scarce goods of power and prestige whereas the minorities experience
disadvantage and deprivation. Ethnic minorities experience social deprivation, particularly when religious
scriptures and social sanctions permit such deprivations.

Many studies have been done on disadvantage and deprivation where both these terms have been used
interchangeably. They refer to deficient environmental conditions, impoverished experiences as well as
certain personal characteristics of the members of disadvantaged groups of society (Misra, 1990).
Literally deprivation means dispossession, lack, suffering, or loss of opportunities privileges etc.
Membership in caste, cultural and ethnic groups is generally characterized by activities, religious
practices, family relationships which are usually linked to economic opportunities and accessibility to
resources. Women, children, migrants, labourers etc are considered as deprived.

Deprivation can be manifested in many ways as economic deprivation, environmental deprivation,

cultural deprivation, psychological deprivation, social deprivation etc. R.C Tripathi, (1982) has identified
three criteria to classify states of deprivation: organismic vs. environmental, objective vs. subjective and
absolute vs. relative.

Deprivation has been looked at through nominal categories of caste, ethnic group etc in an either/or
fashion. However, some efforts have been made to go beyond this and understand it in terms of proximal
experiential variables like the concept of prolonged deprivation (Tripathi & Misra, 1975). It refers to a
broader range of variables that contribute to the experiences of the individual.

3. Disadvantaged groups
Disadvantage in India is characterized by poverty, overpopulation, and vertical social structure.

Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST)

The Indian society presents a hierarchically arranged social structure with people at the lower strata
suffering from many disadvantages. Due to traditional vertical social structure and lack of resources,
those belonging to scheduled castes (SC) as well as scheduled tribes (ST) suffer from economic

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insufficiency and social disadvantages. Due to this, they suffer

from malnutrition, lack of provisions for health and sanitation
and education. The efforts to bring about socio-economic transformation of the weaker sections have not
been able to change the situation significantly. Nationwide surveys conducted by the NCERT and ICSSR
of the problems of SC and ST students have shown that while their socio economic and cultural
backgrounds are not supportive, their aspirations have increased. Also they suffer from feelings of
inferiority and incompetence and face difficulties in coping with demands of the educational system.

Deprivation plays a crucial role in human behavior in the Indian society. Despite various efforts by
society and government, many segments of the Indian society have not been able to get equal
opportunities.

As Amartya Sen (1982) pointed out that in India the lower castes are at a disadvantageous position in the
overall socioeconomic structure. Thus membership in a particular social group makes disadvantage a
phenomenon of socio-cultural origin.

Poor
Disadvantage is rooted in one’s socioeconomic conditions. Poverty and disadvantage subsume more than
two thirds of the world’s population but its study has not found much attention in psychology. However,
during the last decade a number of reviews and volumes have been published on this topic (for eg. Misra,
1983; Misra & Tripathi, 1980). Poverty in India is widespread. In 2014, the World Bank reported that
11.8% of all people in India fall below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day (PPP).
According to the Planning Commission of India which is country’s top advisory body, the country will be
poverty free by 2020.

Psychologists consider poverty as an antecedent as well as a consequent variable. Poverty is understood

as economic hardship. It occurs when people are not able to fulfill their basic requirements. It involves
lack of access to resources. According to Townsend, one cannot give an absolute definition of poverty
since people’s needs are conditioned by their society and needs differ in different societies.

The perceived or subjective aspects of deprivation have been looked into be many researchers. Many
researchers have also tried to understand poverty and deprivation in an ecological framework (for eg.
Misra & Tiwari, 1986).

Children
Children constitute another category of disadvantaged groups. Poverty impacts children in terms of ill-
health, poor nutrition, lack of hygiene etc. There is also a high incidence of child labour in India. Due to
lack of resources many children are forced to work at an early age and hence are not able to attend school.

Women
Another disadvantaged category is that of women and girls. As per the latest Census in the year 2011, the
total female sex ratio in India is 940 per 1000 males and the female child sex ratio is 944 girl children per
every 1000 boy children of the same age group. The overall female sex ratio has increased by 0.75 % in
the Census 2011 as compared to the previous Census of 2001. This is a result of the prevailing gender
stereotypes which foster preference for male child and discrimination against women and girls. This
discrimination is evident in differences in nutritional status, educational and career opportunities in favor
of boys and men.

Economically disadvantaged in higher castes

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Another aspect of deprivation is that the change in traditional

way of life and the introduction of the socialistic pattern have
created economic hardships for people belonging to the high caste. This has led to the creation of new
groups of economically disadvantaged people in the higher caste stratum. Hence, caste is no longer a
sufficient criterion of poverty and deprivation.

Most of the Indian researchers have understood deprivation in terms of deficient environmental
conditions but the dimensions and magnitude of these differences have not been specified. Usually
comparisons are made across categories like caste or culture. Tripathi and Misra (1975) argued that the
socio-cultural life in any community can be understood on a continuum with people on one end having all
their physical, social and economic needs satisfied and people on the other end being socially,
materialistically and psychologically handicapped in the fulfillment of these needs.

Persons with disabilities

Another disadvantaged category is that of persons with disabilities. However, now the government has
come up with many schemes to promote physical, psychological, social, educational and economic
rehabilitation and development of persons with disabilities to enhance their quality of life and also enable
them to lead a life with dignity.

4. Consequences of deprivation
Deprivation has implications in various domains. Some of the important consequences of deprivation are:

COGNITIVE CONSEQUENCES
Studies show that caste status, membership of tribal groups and socioeconomic disadvantages do not have
much effect on the performance on Raven’s Progressive Matrices (for e.g., Das & Singh, 1975). But,
some studies (Singh, 1976; Pushpa, 1980) show that performance on tests like Koh’s Block and Lorge
Thorndike test have significant negative relationships with various forms of environmental deprivation.
Studies conducted following the Piagetian paradigm suggest that the disadvantaged children exhibit
delayed emergence of cognitive operations (Bevli, 1977). In addition, they lack insightful problem
solving (Saxena, 1978) and show lower levels of performance on representational skills and memory
tasks (Mishra & Shukla, 1986). Mishra and Saxena (1985) noted that short term memory was unaffected
by socio economic deprivation while measures of long term memory showed significant adverse effect.
Disadvantaged children have also been found to show poor academic achievement than advantaged
children (Sharma & Bhargava, 1980).

The advantaged children show higher level of linguistic achievement as compared to disadvantaged
children (Sahu & Sahu, 1980). Disadvantaged children were also found to show poor academic and
scholastic achievement than advantaged children (Sharma & Bhargava, 1980; Ushashri, 1980).

In general, the educational development of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes has been lower than
that of the general population. Nautiyal and Sharma (1979) have documented that the educational
performance of the SC and ST has been lower than that of other communities in almost all levels of
education, from pre-primary to higher education. The dropout rates are quite high especially in the early
education phase. Studies on cognitive style (Mishra & Tiwari, 1986) have shown that environmental
disadvantage is associated with poor differentiation. Das and Panda (1977) noted that the disadvantaged
children are less analytic and more impulsive, while advantaged children are more analytical and
reflective.

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Despite these findings, the effects of disadvantage are not

always adverse. Misra (1978) found that many participants
from highly deprived backgrounds showed superior performance on cognitive tasks as compared to
participants from the low deprived group. Dash (1980) reported that the disadvantaged tribal children had
a high level of boredom- tolerance, remarkable vigilance and manual and drawing abilities.

MOTIVATIONAL CONSEQUENCES
According to Pareek (1970), poverty leads to three-fold motivational pattern in which there is low need
for achievement (nAch), low n extension and high need for dependency and expectancy which he called
as the frame for powerlessness. This leads to lack of initiative, avoidance, fear of failure and aggressive
rejection of authority. Hence, it can be seen that the motivational characteristics related to social
disadvantage reduce one’s capacity to cope with environmental demands.

Achievement motivation
Contradictory results have been found with respect to the need for achievement. Srivastava and Tiwari
(1967) found the highest level of nAch in the middle class, followed by the upper and lower classes.
Gokulnath (1970) observed higher nAch in tribal than in non-tribal students. Misra and Tripathi (1978,
1982), Tiwari and Misra (1977) found that deprivation is negatively related to nAch.

Level of Aspiration
Misra and Tripathi (1978) noted that the aspired status of groups which were highly deprived was lowest
in comparison to middle and low deprivation groups. It was also found that highly deprived groups
showed maximum discrepancy indicating unrealistic expectation. Caplan and Naidu (1981) found that
university students from high income and high caste families had higher aspiration for examination marks
as compared to students from low income and low caste families.

PERSONALITY
Rath (1974) found more cases of neuroticism and insecurity in low caste students. Results on TAT
showed that SC students were higher on achievement, deference, interception, and abasement needs while
Brahmins were higher in affiliation and succorance needs. Prolonged deprivation has been found to be
positively related to alienation (Singh & Varma, 1982) and external locus of control (Tripathi, 1983).
Some researchers have shown that deprived people have a high level of anxiety (Sharma, 1978) whereas
Misra (1982) has shown that highly deprived students have less anxiety than low deprived students.
Dhapola (1977) noted that on EPPS exhibition and change needs were greater among Brahmin students
than SC students. Singh (1981) observed that disadvantaged students were more rigid, conforming,
anxious, less extrovert, alienated and had a lower self image than advantaged students.

Self-concept
Dhapola (1977) reported that SC students show inadequacies in the self-system, social extension of self
and interpersonal attitudes than Brahmins. Misra and Tripathi (1980) noted that while self-perception was
positive across high, medium and low deprivation, there was a significant negative relationship of its
magnitude with the degree of deprivation.

Sharma (1975) found that there was a tendency for more positive self–concept with increasing SES.
However, the overall effect of SES was not significant. Rath (1974) observed that SC students held
negative stereotypes about their groups and internalized the attitude of high caste people toward the low
caste people.

HEALTH

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The preamble of the World Health Organization (WHO) states

that the enjoyment of the highest standard of health is a
fundamental human right. According to Article 25 of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights, every
one has the right to a standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and necessary
services. However, it is observed that one’s poor health status, including higher morbidity, lower life
expectancy, and higher rates of infant mortality are linked to their race, ethnicity, and caste. Studies also
reveal that any kind of discrimination rooted in social origin affects people’s health in at least three
distinct ways: (a) health status, (b) access to healthcare, and (c) in quality of health services.

SOCIAL STIGMA
Social stigma is the extreme disapproval of (or discontent with) a person or group on socially
characteristic grounds which distinguish them, from other members of a society. Negative reactions from
others may take many forms such as disinterest, criticism, prejudice, avoidance, rejection, betrayal,
stigmatization, ostracism, abuse and bullying. Due to stigmatized experiences, a deprived caste student is
highly self-conscious, sensitive to others’ comments and criticism, has real or imagined evaluation, and is
likely to feel socially anxious, especially when under observation.

ATTRIBUTION
Misra and Misra (1986) reported that the advantaged students attributed their exam performance more to
stable and controllable causes as compared to disadvantaged students. While advantaged students
attributed luck more in the case of failure, disadvantaged students used it to explain success. Jain and Mal
(1984) have reported that low deprived students considered effort and ability as major causes of success
and bad luck as the major cause of their failure.

5. Explanations of Deprivational Effects

These results of studies mentioned above can be explained by the fact that deprivation results in lack of
learning opportunities and experiences which facilitate cognitive growth. The main sources of deficit are
inadequate mothering, less parental guidance in goal seeking, less positive and more negative
reinforcement. It has been argued that the deprived children perform poorly because they are genetically
less bright (Jensen, 1969). However, this is not true since birth in a particular caste is not linked to a
specific level of cognitive competence, rather it is the experiential background associated with caste
which makes a person cognitively more or less competent.

Another major issue is the distinction between performance and competence. According to Labov (1970),
advantaged and disadvantaged groups do not differ in their level of competence rather the differences
could be on the basis of the context in which competence is expressed.

6. Reactions to disadvantage and deprivation

Human-beings respond to how other people perceive, evaluate, and feel about them. Positive responses
from others lead to psychological and physical well-being, whereas, long-term exposure to negative
reactions is associated with psychological difficulties and poor physical health.
People who experience rejection generally have three sets of motives:
 A heightened desire for social connections

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 Angry, antisocial urges to defend oneself or to hurt the

source of rejection
 The rejected people are motivated to avoid further rejection, hence withdraw themselves.
Studies have shown aggressive behavior among school children who were rejected by their peer group.
Anger and aggression in rejected children occurs due to the pain or frustration associated with rejection.
Rejection by the peer group not only creates a great deal of suffering in the child, but also predicts
negative emotional and behavioral outcomes in the future.

7. Measures to tackle disadvantage and deprivation

The Government has formulated many policies and schemes for the well-being of the Socially
Disadvantaged Groups like the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the Other Backward
Classes (OBCs) and the Minorities, since they still continue to lag behind the rest of the society due to
their social and economic backwardness. Efforts are being made for the advancement of these socially
disadvantaged groups so that they can be brought at par with the rest of the society. Simultaneously, new
measures have been adopted to accelerate the process of empowering these weaker sections.
Empowerment of these groups essentially encompasses the three vital and inter-related components viz.,
i) Social Empowerment; ii) Economic Empowerment; and iii) Social Justice.

Certain protective and preferential measures by way of positive discrimination have been adopted by the
central and state governments for the upliftment of socially disadvantaged groups in India. However, such
measures have to go a long way in achieving their purpose.

8. Summary
 The majority social groups have the maximum hold over resources and scarce goods of power
and prestige whereas the minorities experience disadvantage and deprivation.
 The terms disadvantage and deprivation have also been employed interchangeably with other
terms like cultural deprivation, environmental deprivation, social disadvantages etc to refer to
deficient environmental conditions and experiences.
 The disadvantaged groups in India include scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, poor, children,
women and economically backward among the high castes.
 Due to traditional vertical social structure and lack of resources, those belonging to backward and
scheduled castes (SC) as well as scheduled tribes (ST) suffer from economic insufficiency and
social disadvantages.
 Another aspect of deprivation is that the change in traditional way of life and the introduction of
the socialistic pattern have created economic hardships for people belonging to the high caste.
 There are many consequences of deprivation like cognitive, motivational, in terms of personality,
health, social stigma etc.
 The results of studies showing poor performance of disadvantaged groups can be explained by the
fact that deprivation results in lack of learning opportunities and experiences which facilitate
cognitive growth. The main sources of deficit are inadequate mothering, less parental guidance in
goal seeking, less positive and more negative reinforcement. Another major issue is the
distinction between performance and competence.
 People who experience rejection generally have three sets of motives: A heightened desire for
social connections; angry, antisocial urges to defend oneself or to hurt the source of rejection; the
rejected people are motivated to avoid further rejection, hence withdraw themselves.
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 The Government has formulated many policies and

schemes for the well-being of the Socially
Disadvantaged Groups like the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the Other
Backward Classes (OBCs) and the Minorities, since they still continue to lag behind the rest of
the society due to their social and economic backwardness.

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