The Sociological Bases of Party Competition: The Case of Massachusetts.

The purpose of this study is to examine the ecological bases of party competition. For over a decade there has been a continuing controversy among social scientists over the nature of the relationship between various forms of ecological structure and the structure of electoral competition between the two major political parties in the United States. The cumulative results of the major studies done in this area are unfortunately not only inconclusive but contradictory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]