The Effect of Economic on Relative Deprivation——The Mediating Effect of Sense of Social Fairness

Abstract

China is in the critical period of economic transformation currently, but high-speed economic development may widen the class gap and trigger social inequality, which in turn will have a negative impact on social mentality of residents. Relative deprivation is considered as a negative social mentality and an important factor affecting social harmony and stability. Academic research between economic development and social mentality is relatively abundant, but there is a lack of research on relative deprivation. In order to fill the gap, this article examines the impact of regional economic development levels on relative deprivation and the mediating effect played by the sense of social fairness based on the data from the Chinese Social Survey (2021). The study found that the level of regional economic development has a significant negative impact on relative deprivation, and the sense of social fairness mediates between them. Therefore, a higher level of regional economic development can directly alleviate residents’ relative deprivation, and can also alleviate residents’ relative deprivation by improving their sense of social fairness.