Public Relations, Activism, and Social Change: Speaking Up

by Demetrious; Kristin

• ISBN13: 9780415897068
• ISBN10: 0415897068
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book draws significant new meaning to the inter-relationships of public relations and social change through a number of international case studies, and rebuilds knowledge around alternative communicative practices that are ethical, sustainable, and effective. Demetrious offers a powerful critical description of the dominant model of public relations used in the twentieth century, showing that #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;PR#xE2;#xAC;" was characterised as arrogant, unethical and politically offensive in ways that have severely weakened its professional credibility. The book argues that change within the field of public relations is imminent and urgent, as contemporary industrialised society #xE2;#xAC;#x1D; responding to life threatening hazards and threats such as global warming #xE2;#xAC;#x1D; is changing. In these conditions, articulate and persistent publics will appear in the form of grassroots activists, asking contentious questions about risks and tabling them for public discussion in bold, inventive, and effective ways. Following this path, Demetrious theorises an alternative set of social relations to those used in the twentieth century: public communication. Constructed from communicative practices of grassroots activists and synthesis of diverse theoretical positions, public communication is a principled approach that avoids the deep contradictions and flawed coherences of essentialist public relations and instead represents an important ethical reorientation in the communicative fields.