Ceremonies and cigarettes
Explaining consistency amid change through Symbolic Resonance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24236998 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jason P Bonham, Ken R Smith, T A Bruckner (0000-0002-6927-964X) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 118-119 |
| Pages | 102125 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Poetics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0304-422X • E-ISSN: 1872-7514 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.poetic.2026.102125 |
| OpenAlex | W7223145786 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
This study considers the relation between institutional adaptation and long-term behavioral change. Often, behavioral interventions weaken over time as prior norms reemerge. As a contradictory case, we focus on the practice of tobacco abstention within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although originally taught in 1833, tobacco abstention was not standardized until a 1921 requirement of tobacco abstention for Latter-day Saint temple participation, a powerful symbol of collective attachment. Drawing from this narrative, we offer an analytic framework called Symbolic Resonance (SR) that accounts for how behaviors embedded within symbolically resonant institutions can promote durable normative change. We then compare this case to broader U.S. tobacco trends to illustrate SR's diagnostic value. As an empirical demonstration, we compare changes in tobacco-related health outcomes both before and after the 1921 ban by temple participation utilizing the Utah Population Database. We find that tobacco-related health advantages were confined to later cohorts who engaged in temple rituals. These results suggest that institutions may influence behavior durability when expectations are paired with symbols. SR provides analytic leverage for understanding connections between organization, individual behavior, and health beyond the Latter-day Saint case.
Artistic and Creative Research · Arts and Performance Studies · Semiotics and Representation Studies
Tobacco Product Use and Associated Factors Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2019
Building Brand Community
Socioeconomic status and smoking
Theoretical explanations for maintenance of behaviour change
Understanding and applying the RE-AIM framework
The Sustainability of Evidence-Based Interventions and Practices in Public Health and Health Care
E-Cigarette Use Among Youth in the United States, 2019
Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung
Theory of the firm
The Utah Population Database. The Legacy of Four Decades of Demographic Research
The Secondary Sex Ratio and Male Mortality at Pre‐Reproductive Ages
Constraints to Upholding Workplace Safety Laws and Regulations within Organizations
From Coalition to Constraint
The effects of the anti-smoking campaign on cigarette consumption
Getting to the Truth
The Doctors’ Choice Is America’s Choice”
An Agenda for Research on the Sustainability of Public Health Programs
Frail Males on the American Frontier
Selection Effects in Studies of Religious Influence
Behind the one-way mirror
Constraints to Upholding Workplace Safety Laws and Regulations within Organizations
A Pragmatist Theory of Social Mechanisms
Persistence and fashion in art Italian Renaissance from Vasari to Berenson and beyond
Subcultures of Consumption
Life expectancy among LDS and Non-LDS in Utah
A Theory of Resonance
Implementing, Embedding, and Integrating Practices
Talking about Homosexuality
Resonance and Radicalism
Institutionalized Organizations
| Highly cited | No |
|---|