ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book helps to understand how the tobacco control movement became a large and pervasive force for social change in the second half of the twentieth century. It focuses on to a recurring theme: the involvement of health care organizations has helped the movement grow, and has contributed considerable legitimacy, especially in the last few years. The book presents a capsule history of the tobacco control movement in the United States. It examines the constituent parts of the movement in Minnesota. The book also examines the role the "health voluntaries"—the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society have—have played in the movement in Minnesota—an important role. It introduces the two streams of social movement theory and research that will be useful for the task at hand—the ways in which movements build on social infrastructure and state-movement relations.
