indianotes

Every few days, a new protest seems to break out. Spain, France, India, Indonesia – rich countries, poor countries, democracies and autocracies, anywhere and everywhere. And increasingly, for reasons that appear to have no defined ideologies.

Earlier waves of mass protest were often organised around broad political, ideological or national causes. Today’s protests seem to have more diverse causes: housing, inflation, jobs, education, corruption, exam fraud, immigration, social-media restrictions, and access to opportunity.

And though the original grievance may be apolitical, once thousands of people take to the streets, the issue inevitably becomes political.

A plausible connection between these disparate grievances is inequality; or the feeling that “I am being discriminated against”. In other words, “others get better opportunities, education, jobs, money, etc. but I am denied these”. The pain of inflation and lack of access to basics like housing and education only accentuate the disenchantment.

Such comparisons with more fortunate “others” have sparked unhappiness and unrest since ancient times, so this is not new. In fact, there is a substantial body of research connecting inequality, relative deprivation and protest.

A study of 398 Occupy protests across 180 countries found that higher inequality was associated with higher protest rates (Government and Opposition). Research in Europe as well as a 2023 meta-analysis also found links between relative deprivation and collective action. More recent research from Chile, published in World Development, found that the gap between perceived and actual social position predicts protest participation.

In fact, broader literature suggests that perceived inequality and relative disadvantage can matter more than objective inequality or poverty.

So it’s not that living standards have fallen globally. In fact, they’ve improved in most places. What has changed is the frequency and ubiquity of available comparisons – thanks to technology.

In the past too, one encountered richer or more successful people. But except for the occasional neighbor; they were distant, different from us and we couldn’t see how they lived (except for famous folk hounded by the paparazzi).

But today, it’s not just the famous; we constantly see the lives of ordinary people (like us) who appear to have better lives than us. Almost every day my news feed has a story of how some ordinary kid got a starting salary of ₹1 crore, or made millions on a start-up. Social media is filled with videos of glamorous weddings or fancy clothes or exotic holidays. Nobody wants to publicize the ordinary.

So while technology hasn’t necessarily created inequality, it has made other people’s success much more visible and comparable to our own situation. This reinforces the idea of “relative deprivation” and feeds resentment, especially given the incessant bombardment.

Social media also connects us to others with the same grouse. This fortifies and magnifies our feelings of inequality. The same technology also enhances the ability to mobilise. From weeks or months earlier, today it takes just days, even hours to gather a crowd.

And then every phone becomes a broadcaster and in no time, images of the protest are all over social and conventional media. This attracts more disgruntled folk, as well as a good number of malcontents and vandals. And before you know it, things can get out of control – like what’s happening in France with the school protests right now.

Interestingly, technology also allows for greater manipulation of our feelings. Specially designed messaging, fake content and other sophisticated tricks can make sections of the population feel much more resentful.

Comparisons, inequality and protests have always existed in human society. What seems to have changed is technology’s ability to magnify and transmit feelings of relative discrimination. It’s also made the transition from “that’s not fair” to “doing something about it” dramatically easier and quicker.

And that’s what differentiates this new age of protests.