The extent of relative deprivation in upwardly mobile South Africans and its impact on financial attitudes

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to explore the relationship between relative deprivation and the attitudes driving consumption of upwardly mobile South Africans. Various propositions presented in the literature were tested within the context of upwardly mobile South Africans. Two areas of focus of this study is (1) the extent and impact of relative deprivation on attitudes towards consumption and personal finances, and (2) an assessment of the differences in attitudes towards consumption and personal finances of this group. The study found that this group has a high level of self-esteem and cannot be defined as relatively deprived. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that social comparison within this group does not encourage consumption for the purpose of the achievement of social status. Of particular relevance to South Africa is that the study has demonstrated that there are very few differences in attitudes between the different race groups. This confirms that upwardly mobile South Africans are fairly homogenous in terms of their experience of relative deprivation given that both upwardly mobile blacks and whites have high self-esteem. It also demonstrates that the experience of relative deprivation by the different race groups may be more consistent with each other than previous studies have shown.