Public Relations in Global Cultural Contexts: Multi‐paradigmatic Perspectives

Citation

Surowiec, P. (2012), "Public Relations in Global Cultural Contexts: Multi‐paradigmatic Perspectives", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 514-516. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281211285039

The publication of Public Relations in Global Cultural Settings: Multi‐paradigmatic Rerspectives marks a trend in public relations (PR) reflecting changing sensibilities in scholarship on this communicative practice. The emergence of a “second wave” of Western scholarship on PR has advanced theorising of this practice from a modernist managerialism to multidisciplinary analysis. Indeed, the volume edited by Nilanjana Bardhan and C. Kay Weaver is a case in point – it advances the modelling approach to public relations towards the analysis capturing dynamic features of PR practice. In this book, globalisation is considered as a primary setting for understanding the contemporary public relations and it is the key theme unifying contributing chapters. The second major theme explored in this volume is the relationship between cultures and public relations. In essence, this book offers a collection of essays, which, in a stimulating way, systematise multiple perspectives on public relations as a global practice. Those perspectives are explored throughout ten chapters and problematise public relations as an area of practice that is flux and susceptible to changes.

The central thesis in this book unfolds as follows: while the intellectualisation of public relations has been grounded within a number of “schools of thought”, the editors of this volume advocate “the value of multi‐paradigmatic approach perspectives in public relations”. Given that research on public relations has been grounded in several academic disciplines, their central thesis is difficult to refute and, in fact, contributions from various authors thoroughly support this premise. The book opens with an introductory chapter by Bardhan and Weaver in which the editors point out under‐theorised aspects of globalisation in public relations; provide an exemplary overview of paradigms in public relations scholarship; and highlight the significance of cultures in public relations and their importance, challenging largely Western‐centric models of public relations. Among the contributing chapters that follow are narratives exploring:

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  power in public relations (Lee Edwards);

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  links between intercultural communications theory and public relations practice (Michael Kent and Maureen Taylor);

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  the role of culture in public relations (Nilanjana Bardhan);

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  intercultural typologies of public relations research (Jeffrey Courtright, Rachel Wolfe and John Baldwin);

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  postmodern turn in public relations (Derina Holtzhausen);

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  generic/specific aspects of public relations theorising (Robert Wakefield);

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  the relevance of post‐colonialism to public relations (Mohan Jyoti Dutta and Hahuya Pal); and

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  chi‐based approaches to public relations (Jensen Chung).

Finally, the last chapter in this volume sketches out directions for future research in public relations scholarship in which the editors advocate a “participatory paradigm” enacted, in conceptual terms, by the greater engagement of research participants in studies on PR. Those individual narratives discuss public relations from various paradigmatic positions and highlight the avenues for understanding of this practice as performed at the crossovers between forces of global capitalism, cultural specificities and professional identities of practitioners worldwide.

The authors attempt to capture dynamics of changes to practice and shift the academic debate on public relations towards explanations addressing reflexive consideration of corporate, societal, and national cultures. By doing so, on the one hand, they sensitise us to the Western hegemony in public relations research and practice. On the other hand, by foregrounding “cultures” as a second major theme in international public relations, the authors aspire to bridge a gap between the process of globalisation and public relations as a practice enacted on various localised settings. In fact, the volume brings to the attention “localised” ways of theorising public relations as a cultural practice and attempts to distance itself from the Western‐centric view of public relations. For example, theoretical insights from post‐colonial studies (Dutta and Pal) and Eastern philosophies (Chung) demonstrate this point well.

Reading of this book paints a complex ontological, however, not coherent picture for understanding of the contemporary international public relations. The contributions to this volume can be located at two axes: they emphasise “globalising” and “localised” aspects of public relations as well as merge “critical” and “pragmatic” aspects of public relations theory. Importantly, the former axis offers an opportunity to shift the analysis of public relations to new, cultural avenues whereas the latter axis maps out an in‐depth reflection on the relationship between public relations practice and the role of public relations in the global communication flow. Both functionalist and critical public relations scholarship is seen as complementary rather than competing explanations of PR practice. Although that might be the case on the level of academic debate, questions should be asked if, in research terms, sensibilities in those traditions are possible to reconcile.

While this volume examines the relationship between globalisation, culture and public relations, it does not provide the reader with a single epistemological approach to understanding public relations. The multiplicity of theories and concepts accompanying their explanation precludes this possibility. At times, the reader can be misguided into thinking that this is primarily a book on globalisation and culture whereas public relations is hiding in the background of analysis and struggling to come through. But this is not an aim of this publication – its aim is to examine the relationship between globalisation, culture and public relations and, to that end, the book explores the links between them in an interesting way for scholars, educators, and students who recognise how and why cultural sensitivity is important to public relations in a globalizing world.

In my view, this volume reinforces the argument that public relations cannot be exclusively theorised as an academic discipline with its own set of paradigmatic changes and axiomatic assumptions. This book is an illustration of this argument and proves that insights from more advanced scholarship, for example cultural studies, business studies, sociology, globalist studies is valuable to theorise dynamics of knowledge in public relations scholarship. Overall, this is a needed book as it systematises the developments in international public relations scholarship. The editors stress out the fact that that because PR crosses boundaries it is susceptible to changes. The contributors provide a fresh commentary on PR practice. What is more, the book is relevant to both functionalists and critical theorists of public relations as it offers eloquently articulated strengths and weaknesses of both approaches to theorising PR. This book demonstrates the multi‐dimensionality in which the contemporary PR practice is performed and that is the main reason as to why there is a scope to further theorise complexities of PR practice.