Assessing perceived social inequity: a relative deprivation framework.

The set of studies presented here describes a theoretically based method of assessing perceived social inequity and illustrates the approach through the development of an instrument assessing this experience in women's lives. The Perceived Social Inequity Scale-Women's Form (PSIS-W) is grounded in relative deprivation theory (Davis, 1959), which states that discontent results from recognition of an unfair discrepancy between one's own situation and that of others. The psychometric quality of the 26-item PSIS-W is supported by consistent results across two factor analyses, strong temporal stability over 1- and 4-month intervals, and relationships found between it and a number of predicted variables. Implications for theory and research in the areas of social inequity, social stigma, and stereotype perception are discussed.