BLOWING SMOKE - STATUS POLITICS AND THE SHASTA COUNTY SMOKING BAN

This study examines the politics underlying the implementation of a sm oking ban in public facilities, including restaurants and bars. The an alysis is grounded in interviews with the moral entrepreneurs who spea rheaded the antismoking crusade and the status quo defenders who oppos ed it, a content analysis of letters to the editor, and data on the pr o- and antiban letter writers' cumulative property values. The finding s reveal that moral entrepreneurs and proban letter writers focused on health risks thought to be associated with secondhand smoke; their op ponents focused on the individual right to smoke. As expected, status also differentiates the pro- and antiban groups, consistent with theor izing about the role of status politics in the creation of deviant typ es.