BRIDGING PEOPLE AND PROTEST - SOCIAL RELAYS OF PROTEST GROUPS AGAINSTLOW-FLYING MILITARY JETS IN WEST-GERMANY

This article summarizes the results of an empirical study of citizen p rotests against low-flying military jets. The protests occurred in the Federal Republic of Germany during the 1980s. The theoretical concept of mobilization-mediating social networks - called serial relays - wa s developed and its empirical implications tested in two regions. Thes e localities were similar in terms of social and political context, an d also in the extent to which they were subjected to military overflig hts, but they differed in terms of quantity and quality of protest mob ilization. The study focuses empirically and analytically on the meso level of society, which was operationalized by gathering interview and survey data on the affiliations of activists and their acquaintances with various associations an the local level. By advancing to a struct ural analysis of contacts between networks rather than people, the stu dy goes beyond the commonly applied egocentric perspective. The study concludes that high mobilization was facilitated by decentralized rela ys that linked protest-generating networks to more traditional parts o f the local community.