A Study on Fraternal Relative Deprivation of Minority Groups in Bangladesh

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to explore the phenomenon of fraternal relative deprivation of Santals with minority status and racial ethnicity and Bengali Hindus with minority status and religious ethnicity. The independent variables used in this study were group composition (Santals/Hindus), gender (Male/Female), age (13/16 years) and residential background (Urban/Rural). Thus, the broad objective of the study was to conduct an empirical investigation of fraternal relative deprivation of Santa is and Bengali Hindus as minority groups relating to gender differences, age variations and residence differentials. The study utilized several factors as the sources of fraternal relative deprivation such as social discrimination, unfair distribution of resources and privileges, unequal treatment and discriminatory behaviours, economic disparity, political exploitation and social discrimination. These factors were identified as predisposing and precipitating causes of intergroup conflict between dominant and sub-ordinate groups leading to the development of felt fraternal relative deprivation in Santals with minority status and racial ethnicity and Bengali Hindus with minority status and religious ethnicity. The study has formulated several hypotheses. These are (i) respondents from Santal minority group would express significantly higher felt fraternal relative deprivation as compared to the respondents from Bengali Hindu minority group; (ii) female respondents would express higher felt fraternal relative deprivation as compared to male respondents, (iii) respondents with sixteen years of age would perceive fraternal relative deprivation in higher intensity as compared to the respondents with thirteen years of age; (iv) respondents with rural residential background would' express higher felt fraternal relative deprivation as compared to the respondents with urban residential background. These hypotheses were tested on a sample composed of 240 respondents. The sample was collected from two ethnic groups such as Snatals as racial ethnic group and Bengali Hindus are religious ethnic group. Each ethnic group included equal number of respondents. Again, each group was divided into 13 years age group and 16 years age group with equal numbers of respondents. Each age group was again equally sub-divided into urban and rural according to their residential background. Fraternal Relative Deprivation Scale was used to measure the perceived fraternal relative deprivation of Santals and Bengali Hindus. This measure of Fraternal Relative Deprivation Scale contained 19 items of which 7 items were from social area, 7 items from economic area and 5 items from political area. These items represented certain hypothetical situations involving social, economic, and political privileges. A Hindu respondent was asked to express his own perception in terms of percentage about the chances of Hindus of getting such a privilege on scale ranging from 0% to I00% and then he again was required to indicate the same for Muslims. The same procedure was repeated in case of Santals. A discrepancy score between ratings for own group and reciprocal out-group was computed for each hypothetical situation. A discrepancy score with minus sign (negative) between own group ratings and out-group ratings was thought as deprivation score and with plus sign (positive) was thought as gratification score. In each minority group, a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design consisting of 2 levels of gender (Male/Female). 2 levels of age (13 years/16 years) and 2 levels of residence (Urban/Rural) was used. Then the data of Santals and Bengali Hindus were combined together irrespective of residential background and ANOVA was computed using a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design representing two levels of group composition (Santal/Hindus), two levels of gender (Male/Female) and two levels of age (13 years/16 years). Results of the study showed that in case of Santal is, it was found that respondents of 13 years age group expressed higher felt fraternal relative deprivation than the respondents of 16 years age group. Again, respondents with urban residential background expressed significantly higher fraternal relative deprivation than the respondents with rural residential background. In case of Bengali Hindus, it was round that female respondents expressed higher fraternal relative deprivation than the male. Again rural respondents expressed higher fraternal relative deprivation than urban respondents. Lastly, it was found that Hindus with minority status and religious ethnicity expressed higher fraternal relative deprivation than Santals with minority status and racial ethnicity. In conclusion, it may be said that fraternal relative deprivation has become central to psychological theorizing in many domains. In particular these results provided evidence for hypothesized role of minority groups, gender, age and residential background as mechanisms for producing felt fraternal relative deprivation. It is also found that the independent variables have clearly moderated the influence of various agentic factors of fraternal relative deprivation in intergroup relations. The obtained pattern of results suggests that Santals with minority status and racial ethnicity have less influence in creating fraternal relative deprivation than Bengali Hindus with minority status and religious ethnicity.