'Stratification philosophy' and collective action: Situating poverty attribution within the five stage model of intergroup relations

Abstract

Scholars have grappled with the paradox of how disadvantaged groups or persons cope with a system in which they are disadvantaged. There have therefore been different perspectives to understand how systems of inequality are legitimized. In a survey of slum dwellers in Lagos (n=383), and adopting an integration of Relative Deprivation Theory, Social Identity Theory and The Five Stage Model of Intergroup Relations (FSM), the study attempted to decipher the role of poverty attribution in shaping reaction to inequality on the basis of feelings of injustice. The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) showed in line with the FSM that reaction o inequality was predicated upon perceived causes of poverty. It was therefore concluded that along with instrumental and affective concerns, beliefs about causes of poverty represent an additional pathway in explaining motivations and impediments to the actions of disadvantaged persons and groups when faced with inequality or injustice.