SOCIAL-STRUCTURE, POLITICAL-INSTITUTIONS, AND MOBILIZATION POTENTIAL

The increasingly diverse set of issues that form the basis of both tra ditional and nontraditional political activity has been attributed to the structural changes occurring in postindustrial societies. In the s ocial movement literature, surprisingly lit tie attention has been pai d to the specific ways in which social structure, rather than structur al change, impacts interest formation and interest articulation. In th is article I argue that some forms of structural differentiation promo te distributions of interests in which some interests cannot effective ly be channelled into electoral politics. Variables measuring the stru ctural differentiation of Colorado counties, in income inequality, edu cational inequality, ethnic heterogeneity, and industrial heterogeneit y, are used to examine the relationship or the ''fit'' between party v oting and voting on ballot initiatives concerning social or cultural i ssues.