Relative Deprivation and Capacity building for Social Crisis: A Case Study of the Events of 2016 and it’s Requirements for Law Enforcement Agencies

Protests over the economic conditions in December 2017 (1396) constitute the most significant social crisis in Iran in current decade. This work aims to search for the origin of political and social protests within this event in Iran in order to better understanding roots of unrests which Law Enforcement Forces particularly Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran (NAJA) has to deal with them. The research method is based on explanation and study of genesis and origins of shaping of the protests of different classes in December 2017 with a focus on relative deprivation theory, especially the ideas of Ted Robert Gurr as the base theory as well as theories of social alienation. In this research, by sending a questionnaire to 250 faculty members and professors as statistical population, in order to study the results, the original weighting method (cardinal) and paired comparisons were used. The results of this study showed that the comparison of social indices under study shows public discontent with its most important social rights. The most important and effective factors are economic corruption, discrimination and social inequality resulting from judiciary injustice, poverty and deprivation of most of Iranian population which results in a feeling of relative deprivation and a feeling of self-alienation and consequently leads to political and social protests and Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran (NAJA) dealt with it. The difference between the legitimate expectations and the realities of the outside world and lack of attention to value and political changes along with economic demands and creation of equality and social justice are the main sources of political and social protests in the past two decades. As a result, a feeling of relative deprivation and a feeling of self-alienation are the most important factors in protests and unrest in this year in Iran.