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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 11, 2019

hegemony of the Sinhalese majority. Such group-based power and strength provided
great encouragement to the Tamil community to project their Tamil ethnic identity

and agitate against Sinhalese majoritarianism.

Group based deprivations were present among Tamil youth in the 1970s but their

feelings regarding that were not the same. During the early period, deprivation-
based frustrations were noticeably higher among the depressed caste groups than the

upper caste group. This was because they felt they were doubly marginalized, both
internally and externally. Their situation appeared to fit into the “double

deprivation” category, which is discussed in the relative deprivation theory.

According to the relative deprivation theory, relative deprivation and the resultant

discontentment are recognized as potential causes of conflicts within and between
organizations. In the case of a country, it can lead to political violence, such as

conflicts, rioting, terrorism, civil wars, and other instances of malefaction. It can be

clearly observed that fraternalistic deprivations among Tamil youth are felt as the
result of a negative perception regarding the circumstances of one’s social group

compared to another group or groups. As interpreted according to the relative
deprivation theory, fraternalistic deprivations compelled the Tamil youth to follow

the violent path in the 1970s. Among them were the lower caste Tamils who were in
the “double deprivation” category. Therefore, being the most affected group, they

aggressively engaged in militant activities in the 1970s and gradually became the

dominant Tamil militant movement in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Conclusions

Feelings of egoistic and fraternalistic relative deprivation existed among Tamil
youth of the 1970s as a result of their conviction that they suffered various

disadvantages in comparison to the reference group. Though both IRD and GRD

existed among Tamil youth in the 1970s GRD was the most prominent. Because
they acted as a group, a powerful sense of their common ethnicity had the effect of

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