DEPRIVATION THEORY
Deprivation theory has an even longer history in U&G research than dependency
theory. Berelson (1949) studied the effects of the 1945 strike of eight major New
York City daily newspapers on audience behavior. Since that time, additional studies
of media strikes have emerged: Kimball (1959) replicated Berelson’s study during
the 1958 New York City newspaper strike; de Bock (1980) studied the effects of
newspaper and television strikes in the Netherlands in 1977; Cohen (1981) examined
a general media strike; and Walker (1990) analyzed viewers’ reactions to the
1987 National Football League players’ strike.
Related, Windahl, Hojerback, and Hedinsson (1986) suggested that the consequences
of a media strike for adolescents were connected to the total degree of perceived
deprivation of television as well as the specific content such as entertainment,
information, and fiction. These deprivations are related both to media
variables like exposure, involvement, and motives, and nonmedia variables such as
socioconcept orientation and activities with friends and parents. Windahl et al.
found that individuals in more socially oriented environments tended to feel more
deprived than those in conceptually oriented settings.