Public Relations and Social Theory

Øyvind Ihlen is professor at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo and co-director of POLKOM – Centre for the Study of Political Communication. He has over 100 publications, including the award-winning edited Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility (2011, with Jennifer Bartlett and Steve May) and Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric (2018, with Robert L. Heath). Ihlen is past president of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). Magnus Fredriksson is associate professor in the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research focuses on strategic communication in general and strategic communication in public sector organizations in particular. His work has been published in European Journal of Communication, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Organization Studies, Public Administration, Public Relations Inquiry, Public Relations Review and elsewhere.

• List of Figures and TablesPreface1. Introduction: Public Relations and Social Theory; Magnus Fredriksson & Øyvind IhlenSOCIAL CHANGES2. On Weber: Legitimacy and Legitimation in Public Relations; Arild Wæraas3. On Luhmann: Reframing Public Relations as Part of Society’s Evolutionary Learning Processes; Susanne Holmstrøm4. On Bauman: Power, Ethics and Social Hermeneutics; Magda Piezcka5. On Beck: Public Relations and Quests for Responsibility; Magnus Fredriksson6. On Latour: Actor-Networks, Modes of Existence and Public Relations; Piet VerhoevenSOCIAL FORCES7. On Bourdieu: Public Relations, Positions and Resources; Øyvind Ihlen8. On Harrison White: Rethinking Relations in Public Relations; Peter Winkler & Stefan Wehmeier9. On Meyer: Public Relations in a Context of World Society, Soft Actors and Rationalized De-coupling; Josef Pallas & Emilia Kvarnström10. On Giddens: Interpreting Public Relations through Anthony Giddens’sStructuration and Late Modernity Theories; Jesper FalkheimerSOCIAL INTERACTIONS11. On Putnam: Bowling Together – Applying Robert Putnam’s Theories of Community and Social Capital to Public Relations; Vilma Luoma-aho12. On Berger: If Peter Berger were doing Public Relations – A Social Constructionist Perspective on Crisis Communication; Mats Heide13. On Boltanski: The Sociology of Critique and Public Relations; Lee Edwards14. On Goffman: Researching Relations with Erving Goffman as Pathfinder; Catrin Johansson15. On Habermas: Communication and Understanding – Key Concepts for Public Relations; Roland BurkartPOWER16. On Marx: Capitalism and Public Relations; Kay Weaver17. On Dewey: Public Relations and its Eclipse of the Public; Lana Rakow18. On Foucault: Engaging with Foucault’s Critical Theory and Methods; Judy Motion & Shirley Leitch19. On Dorothy Smith: Public Relations and Feminist Theory at the Crossroads; Lana Rakow & Diana Iulia Nastasia20. On Spivak: Theorizing Resistance in Public Relations; Mohan Jyoti Dutta21. On Mouffe: Radical Pluralism and Public Relations; Scott Davidson & Judy Motion 22. Conclusions on the Compass, Context, Concepts, Concerns and Empirical Avenues for Public Relations; Øyvind Ihlen, Piet Verhoeven & Magnus FredrikssonAuthor Bios