Failed Populism: Movement-Party Disjuncture in North Carolina, 1890-1900.

I examine the relationship between social movements and political parties through the study of late-nineteenth-century Populism in North Carolina. I use county-level data on North Carolina Farmers' Alliance membership and People's Party votes to test theories on the social-structural bases of the two organizations and gauge the relationship between them. The results indicate a striking disjuncture between Alliance membership and People's Party support and suggest a new interpretation of the defeat of Populism. The results also provide the basis for analysis of the different organizational and mobilizational processes of movements and parties. Additional study of movement-party relationships should improve our understanding of Populism and other insurgent political movements as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]