Frustrated by Deprivation or Privilege? Revealing Divergent Profiles of Perceived (Dis)advantage within Majority Groups

Ethnic-majority individuals vary in how they perceive their ingroup status; some see their group as disadvantaged, whereas others recognize its relative privilege. Using latent profile analysis of the cognitive and affective components of group-based relative deprivation, we identified five distinct profiles in a national probability sample of New Zealand European adults (N = 38,415): Low Deprivation (45.1%), Moderate Deprivation (31.0%), High Deprivation (10.1%), High Cognitive Deprivation (3.1%), and a novel profile characterized by emotional discomfort about the ingroup’s privileged status (i.e., high affective/low cognitive deprivation; 10.7%). Members of this Frustrated Gratification profile held more liberal political attitudes, most strongly endorsed social equality, expressed the lowest levels of modern racism, and most strongly supported Māori political mobilization compared to all other profiles. These profile patterns replicated in two representative samples from the UK. Our findings identify key ideological distinctions between those who defend the status-quo, and those who challenge it.