An Overview of Public Relations, Models and Misconceptions (original) (raw)
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Public Relations Theory: Past, Present and Future
Public relations is one of the fastest growing -and fastest changing -professional practices, with jobs expanding in many countries. For example, on the corporate side in the United States, » employment of public relations specialists (non-managers) is expected to grow 24 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011). Corporate public relations trends in most of the EU have followed the same course as in the U. S. over the last few decades.
Public relations and social theory: Key figures and concepts, 2009
At least five conclusions can be drawn from the collective output of the essays in this book: public relations can be studied as a social activity in its own right; it must be understood in relation to its societal context; the crucial concepts of public relations are trust, legitimacy, understanding, and reflection; issues of power, behavior, and language are at the forefront of public relations study; and social theory is necessary to understand the practice of public relations and to raise important empirical questions about it. This chapter elaborates on these points, while at the same time acknowledging the richness and diversity of the theories discussed by the contributors, which do not lend themselves easily to the tasks of summarizing and drawing parallels.
Some public relations goals and objectives a partially study
Public relations help our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effective by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions. It serves to bring private and public policies into harmony. Public relations serve a wide variety of institutions in society such as businesses, trade unions, government agencies, voluntary associations, foundations, hospitals, schools, colleges, and religious institutions. The managements of institutions need to understand the attitudes and values of their publics in order to achieve institutional goals. The goals themselves are shaped by external environment. The public relations practitioner acts as a counselor to management and as a mediator, helping translate private aims into reasonable, publicly acceptable policy and action.
Rethinking public relations Political strategists, market research firms, think tanks, lobbyists, media advisors, third party mobilizers and 'grassroots' organizers, social media gurus, and other communication specialists have flourished in size and influence and transformed the role of communication in social, political, and economic life. Critics decry the expansion of professionalized communication, impugning the public relations (PR), polling, advertising, and marketing industries for overpowering the media with a torrent of sound-byte journalism, spin control, and 24-hour campaigning, and thus undermining the political process and civic discourse (e.g., . In his research note, featured in this issue, Matt Soar uses war terminology ("commercial carpet bombing") to characterize the impact of the ad industry, in particular, on the civic landscape: "[a] city skyline awash in prominent logos," he writes, "is indicative of a profound imbalance between the wants of marketers and the needs of citizens." Others are less discouraged by the rise and intensification of promotion and publicity in the public sphere and see potential for expanding, rather than restricting, the democratic process. One recent book argues that we have entered a period of "public relations democracy" in which more news sources operating outside the traditional institutions and arenas of power are exercising influence over how media report on political, cultural, and economic affairs . Such "pluralist optimism" brings to mind Ray Hiebert's famous statement that "without public relations, democracy could not succeed in a mass society" (1966, p. 7). 1 The growth in PR, and the professionalization of promotional communication generally, can be attributed to myriad cultural, political, and economic forces: the broader changes associated with globalization, including the development of new information and communication technologies; the emergence, expansion, and contestation of market capitalism (in its neo-liberal and other guises); the increasing importance of symbolic and promotional labour; and the revitalization of the public sphere, where new, emerging forms of grievance and risk are defined, contested, and amplified (e.g., . The articles, research notes, commentaries, and reviews that appear in this special issue address continuities and changes in public relations and professional communication practice. We argue that against the backdrop of these changes, communication (especially persuasive and instrumental forms of communication) has become a more salient feature of the cultural landscape of late modern society. In different ways, the issue takes up the challenge of rethinking public relations.
The evolution of models of public relations: an outsider's perspective
Journal of Communication Management, 2009
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to review the historical development of the models/dimensions of public relations. The extensive criticism of the models and dimensions is provided to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the concept. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on a critical literature review to understand the roots of the models, their empirical tests, the modifications applied to the models over time, and finally the proposed shift from models to dimensions of public relations. Findings -The study concludes that the attempt to translate the public relations models into the dimensions failed because of a variety of conceptual and methodological flaws. Yet, the idea of developing dimensions of public relations is a viable and practical step in advancing public relations research; however, such dimensions must be continuous, dichotomous and measurable. Originality/value -Models of public relations first became a dominant theoretical perspective in public relations only to virtually disappear from the research agenda later. This paper calls the attention back to the models/dimensions to revive the research in this area.
The evolution of public relations research –an overview
2018
The field of public relations is often misunderstood, due to its hybridity, complexity and competing perspectives within the field of scholarship. This essay, which is based on extensive engagement with literature conducted over decades of teaching and researching the subject, outlines the main schools of thought within the field. These are summarised as a) Excellence; b) Advocacy; c) Dialogue; and d) Critical and Cultural approaches. Each perspective reflects variations in understanding of the role of public relations in theory and practice, ranging from an idealised conceptualisation of the practitioner to a demonised view of the practice. It refers throughout to different attitudes to ethics found within these schools, as approaches to ethics provide insight into understandings of the role of public relations within society. The piece concludes with reflections on the growing engagement with promotional culture and emerging research directions.
Public Relations Review, 2007
Public relations is often studied from a managerial, instrumental perspective or a psychological, behavioral perspective. To understand the role of public relations in building trust or mistrust and to develop – or destroy – a license to operate, it needs also to be studied as a social phenomenon.This special issue of Public Relations Review will attempt to broaden the theoretical scope of public relations studies by applying the works of a string of prominent social theorists – Jürgen Habermas, Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Erving Goffman, Max Weber, and Anthony Giddens. What can be culled from using the perspectives of these scholars? None of them studied public relations as such, and hence it must be asked: can public relations fit into their theoretical frameworks, and if so, how?The papers in this special issue discuss these questions, after giving short overviews of the theorists’ key concepts and contributions. This introduction locates the purpose of the special issue within a broader research agenda in public relations. It is argued for a pluralistic approach to the field.
Preprint: How public relations works. Theoretical roots and public relations perspectives
Public relations is often studied from a managerial, instrumental perspective or a psychological, behavioral perspective. To understand the role of public relations in building trust or mistrust and to develop-or destroy-a license to operate, it needs also to be studied as a social phenomenon. This special issue of Public Relations Review will attempt to broaden the theoretical scope of public relations studies by applying the works of a string of prominent social theorists-Jürgen Habermas,