Assessing the Personal and Group Relative Deprivation in the Tabriz and the Impact of Online Social Networks on it

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of online social networks on personal and group relative deprivation. In this study, Relative deprivation has been measured and analyzed by two dimensions: personal relative deprivation and group relative deprivation (in three dimensions: cultural, economic and political relative deprivation). The research method is survey and the statistical population includes 444 citizens in Tabriz who have been determined by Cochran formula. The sampling method is multi-stage cluster sampling and the samples of each cluster have been selected systematically randomly. The findings showed that the group relative deprivation rate is more than personal deprivation. Among the dimensions of group relative deprivation, the cultural dimension of group deprivation is far higher than the economic and political dimensions. The study of the effect of online social networks on relative deprivation showed that the "duration of using social networks" increases the personal relative deprivation and "presence with real identity" in these networks reduces the personal relative deprivation and "resentment of deprivation". "The amount of time use online social networks" and "presence with real identity in online social networks" increase the group relative deprivation and "the amount of users'' activity" in these networks increases the resentment of group deprivation and "the hope for improving the deprivation". The results showed that the impact of online social networks on relative deprivation does not depend on the extent of time use, but it depends on the quality of users'' use of online social networks. The type of exposure and using these networks have different effects on relative deprivation.