564 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 5 / 2015 The theory of the origin of violence put forward by John Dollard, known as the frustration–aggression theory, maintains that the underlying cause of violence is the anger produced by frustration.102 T. R. Gurr’s theory of relative privation illustrates that violence finds its origins in the perception people have of a discrepancy between their hopes and opportunities on two levels: what an individual believes they justly deserve and what they believe they can achieve with their means. When someone faces up to reality and realises that they cannot achieve what they believe they should achieve, this breeds discontent. In social terms, generalised discontent is channelled politically and then used to encourage violence as a means to pursue political objectives.103 With his J-curve theory, J. Davies states that violence occurs in times of depression following long periods of expansion that have fuelled hopes of continued growth and not during long periods of deprivation. It is the comparison between expectations and real outcomes that really lies at the origin of the violence.104 Feierabend and Nesvold’s theory of social change and systematic frustration advances the view that systematic frustration is the root of violence. It may come about for a multitude of reasons, yet these can be grouped into: frustration resulting from a mismatch between aspirations and successes, frustration resulting from forecasts, frustration resulting from uncertainty and frustration resulting from aspirations and contradictory prospects.105 The last three theories are based on the first. We can discern one element they have in common: the frustration caused by relative deprivation as a principal trigger of episodes of social violence. Research undertaken about this aspect of social psychology demonstrates that a clear link exists between the genesis of social discontent and a sense of relative deprivation.106 102 DOLLARD John Frustration and aggression New Haven, 1939 p 21 apud KHAN Opus cit. p 194. 103 GURR Tomas Robert Why men rebel Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1970 p 13 apud KHAN Opus cit. pp 194-95. 104 DAVIES James C. “Toward a theory of revolution” American Sociological Review, No. 27, February 1962 pp 5-19 apud KHAN Opus cit. p 195. 105 GRAHAM, H. D., and GURR ,T. F. (dir.) Opus cit. pp 635-38 apud KHAN. Opus cit. pp 194-97. 106 BROWN, Rupert. “Intergroup Relations” in HEWSTONE, M. et al. (Dir. and Coord.) Introducción a la Psicología social. Una perspectiva europea. Introduction to Social Psychology. A European Perspective. 3rd edition, Barcelona, Ariel, 1992, ISBN 84-344-0855-4, p 392. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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