The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #54868

Michael S Givel, PhD, Department of Political Science, The University of Oklahoma, 455 West Lindsey, Room 215, Norman, OK 73019, 405-325-8878, mgivel@ou.edu

The U.S. anti-tobacco movement has four major (but not exclusive) tendencies. While all four tendencies advocate greatly reducing tobacco use, these tendencies sometimes have conflicts over how to accomplish this goal. They became seriously divided in 1998 over the Global Settlement.

One tendency includes groups like Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, which primarily uses insider lobbying tactics along with outsider tactics (primarily media advertisements) to enact local anti-tobacco laws. A second tendency includes groups like Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids that primarily use federal level insider lobbying tactics to enact tobacco control legislation. A third tendency includes groups like American Lung Association and American Cancer Society, which primarily uses insider lobbying tactics with occasional outsider tactics at all governmental levels. The fourth tendency includes groups like INFACT, which engage in outsider direct actions such as consumer tobacco boycotts and anti-tobacco stockholder resolutions.

In 1998, anti-tobacco groups with a federal focus negotiated a Global Settlement with the tobacco industry without the other factions. This resulted in major dissension within the anti-tobacco movement. The anti-tobacco social movement needs to create a format to resolve differences between all factions. This includes recognizing social movements go through stages including proving failures of official institutions, public education, direct actions, changing majority public opinion, and enacting new laws. The anti-tobacco movement is currently building (including through direct action campaigns) and using public support of tobacco control to enact new laws. All four tendencies play crucial roles in this endeavor and need to be accommodated.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants to this presentation will receive information on the current strategies and political approaches to reduce tobacco use by the four major anti-tobacco factions in the United States. This information will include the four major factions' differences and similarities in goals and strategies. The participants will also receive information on the 1998 Global Settlement and what the potential and actual political and public health consequences may be when major U.S. anti-tobacco factions are unable to resolve policy differences among themselves. Finally, participants will receive information on how social movements develop and why all four factions currently play a crucial role in building the anti-tobacco movement so that meaningful anti-tobacco legislation may be enacted.
• Outcomes that participants can expect to demonstrate as result of the presentation include:
• identify the modern major factions of the U.S. tobacco control movement; define the major similarities and differences between the modern major factions of the U.S. tobacco control movement; articulate the differences in goals and strategies among the U.S. anti-tobacco factions during and after the negotiated Global Settlement;
• describe the necessity of a conflict resolution procedure to resolve policy and strategic differences among the U.S. anti-tobacco factions; and describe the typical stages of social movement building and how that relates to the current strategies and goals of all major U.S. anti-tobacco factions.
• At the conclusion of the session, the participants in this session will be able to:
• list four major factions of the U.S. tobacco control movement; describe one major similarity and four differences between the modern major factions of the U.S. tobacco control movement;
• articulate the one major similarity in goals and two major differences in goals among the U.S. anti-tobacco factions during and after the negotiated 1998 Global Settlement; describe the necessity of creating one conflict resolution procedure to resolve policy differences among the U.S. anti-tobacco factions; and describe the eight typical stages of social movement building and how that relates to the current strategies and goals of all four major U.S. anti-tobacco factions.

Keywords: Tobacco Policy, Social Activism

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.