Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts

Citation

Golob, U. and Podnar, K. (2009), "Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 470-473. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280910998790

The idea of linking public relations theory with prominent social‐science theorists in this form appeared at the pre‐session of the 56th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association and was published as a collection of papers in a special issue of Public Relations Review in 2007. An extended version that added even more theoretical bases to social theory was developed in Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts. Øyvind Ihlen and Betteke van Ruler, Guest Editors of the above‐mentioned special issue, together with Magnus Fredriksson, edited this must‐have book. The book chapters are written by 19 professors and lecturers. The book can easily be described as a quest for deontological background and disciplinary roots of public relations from a sociological perspective. Although this is not the first attempt to link the discipline of public relations with grounded social‐science theories, it is probably one of the most ambitious.

Those who think that it is impossible to have such prominent names as Ullrich Beck, Peter L. Berger, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, Erving Goffman, Jürgen Habermas, Bruno Latour, Niklas Luhmann, Leon Mayhew, Robert Putnam, Dorothy Smith, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Max Weber in one book, will find that they might have been wrong. A bricolage of different social theorists' perspectives and applications of their ideas to the field of public relations are presented in the book, and can be illustrated as a fine kaleidoscope. With its unique approach, this book not only brings together prominent authors from the public relations arena, or expands the methodological issues in the discipline of public relations, but also raises attention to public relations as a social activity.

The editors argue that the field of public relations is not isolated from the wider social context, although some (instrumental) management theories would like to see it this way. In addition, the book is an important source for all who are interested in such concepts as understanding, issues of power, legitimacy, and trust, from the perspective of communication.

Each chapter is devoted to an individual theorist. Each chapter reviews the theorist's concepts, together with the original author's contribution on how some of the presented ideas can be applied to public relations. In addition, the reader can find a box with a short presentation of the life and work of each theorist in each chapter, together with the recommendations of the key works and secondary literature.

The book consists of 17 chapters. After a short preface discussing why and how the idea for this book emerged, a longer introduction brings about the theoretical relevance of the book. This is followed by the core of the book – 14 chapters devoted to prominent sociology theorists.

The chapter devoted to Ullrich Beck searches for the link between Ullrich Beck's work and public relations in Ullrich Beck's concept of reflective modernity. The chapter's author believes that, in the reflexive modernity, public relations helps organisations, in terms of expressivity, but also works as a catalyst for risk and complexity in the interpretation of society.

The work of Peter L. Berger is used to explore the role of crisis communication. According to Peter L. Berger, crisis could be seen as a social process, thus meaning that public relations could be seen as a means for constant interaction and communication between the organisation and society in order to handle crisis in a smooth way. Pierre Bourdieu ascribes an important role to the concept of communication. In his work, the most important concept for public relations seems to be capital in different forms. One such form, for example, is symbolic capital that can be linked to corporate reputation. Organisations struggle for their position in the “field” and their positions depend upon how much capital they hold. This, according to the authors of the chapter, can be decisive for public relations.

According to the authors of the next chapter, Michel Foucault is yet another French author whose work can be linked to the field of public relations. In a Foucauldian perspective, authors ambitiously see public relations as a societal instrument for change. They also believe that Michel Foucault offers the grounds to challenge the role of public relations as a discourse technology. From a Foucauldian discursive realm, Anthony Giddens brings us back to the construction of realities. According to the author of the chapter, Anthony Giddens' work raises the importance of public relations to another level by understanding it as a communication system constructed by all organisational members.

Public relations can thus be viewed as a changing and transformational force in the society with an ethical dimension. In Chapter 7, Johansson uses Erving Goffman's conceptual framework of four key concepts to analyse the essential processes in public relations: relationships, identification and image construction, and to bring interpersonal communication to the forefront. The author illustrates the application of Erving Goffman's concepts with an empirical example, finding this to be especially suitable because Erving Goffman's concepts were developed out of observations in empirical settings (p. 137).

The work of Jürgen Habermas is not new to public relations. As Burkart, the author of the chapter acknowledges, there were several attempts to employ Habermasian communication theory to public relations, especially in terms of its ethical premises. The author's main thesis is that public relations should not neglect its communicative nature. His approach of employing Habermasian concepts is practically oriented and links to Gruning's two‐way symmetrical model of public relations in explaining the need for transparency in the so‐called consensus‐oriented public relations model. Unlike Burkart, who uses Habermasian concepts in a normative (and practical) way, Verhoeven argues that the work of Bruno Latour is a basis for explaining or studying public relations. Hence, the author places public relations communication in an interpretative setting and, among other things, believes that Bruno Latour's actor‐network‐theory can be used to explore the role public relations professionals play in societal controversies, such as environmental issues, and, thus, make public relations more real and reflective.

Niklas Luhmann's systems theory is a basis for analysing public relations in the next chapter. The author of the chapter discusses the perceptions of legitimacy in ever‐changing societal and temporal dimensions and argues that, based on Niklas Luhmann's theories, public relations can find a function in a contemporary society and understand the premises on which its legitimacy rests (p. 207).

The chapter that integrates Leon Mayhew's work with public relations is probably the most specific for a number of reasons. First, because it is so strongly linked with the American or Anglo‐Saxon realm, and second, because it deals with a very specific topic: political public relations. Unlike other sociologists analysed in this book, Leon Mayhew's work itself contains a great deal about public relations, although from a rather distant perspective. Robert Putnam's social capital is the main theme of the next chapter. The author of this chapter argues that Robert Putnam's theoretical contribution is important in terms of developing a deeper understanding of public relations through maintaining a sense of community and trust.

Dorothy Smith's and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's works are related to the feminist approach to public relations. While Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's theories are more concerned with postcolonial feminism, Dorothy Smith's work, as argued by the authors of the chapter, can be utilised for shifting a feminist theory for public relations to a feminist theory of public relations. The “circle of men” (p. 272) should be broken with a critical feminist public relations theory that would study “the lives of women in public relations” (p. 272), rather than “public relations in the lives of women” (p. 272). According to the authors of the next chapter, which integrates the work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak into public relations, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's theories go into neo‐imperial agendas of globalisation. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak offers another critical perspective on public relations by questioning the very terms of “sustainability” and “social responsibility” in the Western, neoliberal model.

The last social theorist dealt with in the book is Max Weber and his concept of legitimacy. Legitimacy is, according to some scholars, a central function of public relations practice (p. 309). One of the arguments that links Weberian legitimacy to public relations is that practice of public relations has a task of acquiring external support to justify an organisation's existence in a society, that is to say, to acquire and maintain organisational legitimacy (p. 318).

The book has two concluding chapters. The first, by the editors, offers a synthesis of the authors' ambitions. The editors conclude that social theory is necessary to understand the practice of public relations and to develop empirical questions about it. The last chapter, by Bentele and Wehmeier, is written as a commentary of the book. These authors offer their own interpretation of, and critique for, each of the 14 chapters. The main message is that all sociological approaches share some commonalities and that these approaches have even more potential than has been shown so far.

To sum up, this book is another important contribution to the analysis of public relations theory. Of course, as it is the case with every book, a reader may not agree with all authors' implications of prominent social theories to public relations, but the book is a rich resource for those who seek a deeper understanding of public relations theory and practice. It offers an array of different angles on how to approach public relations from a non‐mainstream perspective. It would also be ideal to apply the work of some other social theorists, such as those who had later turned to communication science, for example, Dewey, Blumer, Lazarsfeld, Katz, Klapper, Lasswell, Lippmann, etc. but this can form the basis for the second volume of the book. Overall, we see it as an essential reader at least for scholars and, especially, for PhD students in the field of public relations, if not for practitioners.