The Social Construction of Compliance: An Interpretivist Approach to Smoke Free Policy in Bojonegoro

This study explores how public meanings and local disourse shape compliance with the Smoke-Free Policy (Kawasan Tanpa Rokok) in Bojonegoro. Using a qualitative descriptive design with an interpretivist lens, the research investigates how completing social constructions particulary the pro-health narrative stand against the pro industry narrative that influence public understanding. Data were collected through in depth interviews with key actors (n=7), direct observations at public spaces, purposive and snowball sampling were combined due to theoritical saturation and rich data by Glaser & Strauss (1967), thus triangulation data analzed by Denzin (1978). The findings reveal a profound dualism between pro-health and pro-industry that stand against each other while government actors emphasize legal obligations, economic actors and farmers externalize anxieties over financial and social-life, thus condition creating an institutionalized “strategic hesitation” in policy implementation. Compliance with KTR in Bojonegoro is not merely a tehnical-legal issue but a complex social construction influenced by deeply embedded cultural norms (such as kenduri) and significant economic dependence on the tobacco industry. However, unlike the previous studies focused on law enforcement and its impacts on everyday-life with, this research proviides a critical nuance by interpret social meanings and demonstrating how a local economic base instrinsically linked to tobacco alters the dynamic of social objectification and delays the internalization of health norms.