... Critical perspectives in public relations. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: L'E... more ... Critical perspectives in public relations. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: L'Etang, Jacquie. Author: Pieczka, Magda. PUBLISHER: International Thomson Business Press (Boston). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1997. PUB TYPE: Book (ISBN 0415123003 ). ...
The combined effects of digital communication technologies, political upheavals around the world,... more The combined effects of digital communication technologies, political upheavals around the world, waves of powerful activism and protests have injected a new urgency into communication research. How communication theory is able to respond to this challenge is a matter of discussion, including the question of the adequacy of older theories to the new circumstances. This paper, aims to add to this discussion by returning to Habermas's pragmatics, one of the 20 th century communication classics, to reflect on how communication and other forms of action interact in campaigns for social change in the context of growing reach of strategic communication and the growing role of social media in activism. This article starts by posing theoretical disjuncture as a problem shared by a number of communication subfields, such as public communication, public relations, communication for social change, and my particular example, development communication. The more recent scholarship, however, has moved away from this state of knowledge. Instead, scholars highlight the need to embrace non-linear models, of communication for social change and appear to embrace hybridity to deal with the theoretical confusion in the field. The analysis presented in this article aims to demonstrate that Habermas's communication pragmatics works well to explicate complex campaigning practices in brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Queen Margaret University eResearch a consistent and yet theoretically expansive way. Re-reading Habermas makes it possible also to respond to the call articulated by social movement scholars to move beyond the limits of strategy and to recognize the importance of larger cultural conversations and scripts. Conceptualizing public campaigning as chains of speech acts, defined here as both linguistic and nonlinguistic acts, offers an analytical tool that works across different levels, spaces, and actors involved in social change efforts and that privileges communication as the explanatory mechanism for the contemporary social change praxis. Finally, returning to Habermas's work underscores the importance a valid position, rather than of desirable identity, from which to engage with others in the social world. This invites a clear and consistent focus on action and its basis (moral position) rather than on attributions ascribed to organizations and campaigners (identity). The key question thus shifts from 'Do you like me/trust me sufficiently follow me?' to a more substantial, 'Is this a good thing to do?'
Objective:The aim of this article is to extend and elaborate ways of conceptualising, enabling an... more Objective:The aim of this article is to extend and elaborate ways of conceptualising, enabling and practising peer leadership in whole-school alcohol education programmes.Design:Qualitative study involving individual and group interviews.Setting:The AlcoLOLs project took place in six secondary schools in North East Edinburgh (Scotland) from 2013 to 2015.Methods:A total of 21 individual and 4 group interviews with young people aged 14–18 who acted as peer leaders in the AlcoLOLs project. Interviews were conducted throughout the duration of the project as a means of hearing peer leaders’ individual voices, monitoring progress and evaluating the intervention. Data were analysed using the principles of thematic analysis.Results:The intervention demonstrates transformative multilevel learning (i.e. cognition, civic/communal attitudes, self-identity, self-efficacy, specific communication/team skills) for peer leaders resulting from the shared leadership process. Results indicate that ther...
Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic studies have examined how digital technolo... more Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic studies have examined how digital technologies can contribute to political participation, with numerous publications focusing on social networking websites. This article adds to this strand of research by tackling the scarcity of cross-national comparative studies in the field. Drawing from an original dataset acquired by combining a cross-national comparative approach and a mixed-methods methodology, this paper explores how media and political landscapes mediate the contributions of Facebook to citizens’ political participation in Italy and the United Kingdom. A participatory gap between Italian and British participants, with Italians displaying higher levels of political participation through Facebook, is found and explained with reference to three contextual factors: the greater diffusion and relevance of other online platforms such as Twitter in the UK; Italian participants’ more negative perception of traditional media link...
The idea that it is imperative for organizations, be they governments, businesses, scientific or ... more The idea that it is imperative for organizations, be they governments, businesses, scientific or arts institutions, to relate to the world in a new way has gathered momentum since the 1990s. Labeled as participation, involvement, partnership, collaboration, co-production, co-creation, or engagement, it has increasingly been institutionalized across a range of fields. This chapter deals specifically with the discourse of engagement in its three contextually shaped variants of public, employee, and stakeholder engagement as they appear in texts produced by expert practitioners. This discussion takes a critical perspective and investigates engagement by problematizing the phenomenon in a Foucauldian fashion. The chapter aims to show how engagement is constructed in discursive practices shared by engagement experts. It is, therefore, concerned with texts that combine instruction and prescription and thus constitute and regulate engagement. This discussion is developed in three steps, pr...
In the 1990s evaluation has been at the centre of a continued debate in public relations. With th... more In the 1990s evaluation has been at the centre of a continued debate in public relations. With the new millennium in sight public relations practitioners, academics and professional bodies are not only asking for an intensified discussion, but are also looking for guidelines of best practice which are seen as a necessary step for further development towards professionalism.
Introduction This paper examines the way in which innovation in policy making over the last decad... more Introduction This paper examines the way in which innovation in policy making over the last decade or so has been built around a discourse about communication and changing preference for different modes of communication with citizens. We frame this interest in debates and ...
With the concept of “liquid modernity” Bauman offers an understanding of postmodern society as a ... more With the concept of “liquid modernity” Bauman offers an understanding of postmodern society as a continuation of modernity. His idea of adiaphorization could inspire the pursuit of a sociological explanation of the problem of ethics in public relations practice. Responding to Bauman in research terms directs us towards hermeneutic phenomenology as an approach to illuminate public relations practice by exploring tensions and structures within the experience of the individual consciousness of practitioners. A number of specific points are offered in relation to the potential of Bauman’s work to contribute to research, pedagogy, and practice in public relations. These could be summarized under terms drawn from the sphere of Bauman’s thought such as: nomadism, disobedience, social hermeneutics, a commitment to the emancipatory goals of knowledge together with a commitment to humanity as the foundation for action. The discussion concludes with the importance of approaching public relatio...
This paper examines Dialogue as a managerial fashion that has emerged since the early 1990s. Whil... more This paper examines Dialogue as a managerial fashion that has emerged since the early 1990s. While the early parts of the paper rely on well-tried approaches to and arguments about the phenomenon, the middle part of the paper attempts to define dialogue as a fashion, and offers a discussion of the dynamics of fashion-setting. Finally, we attempt to extend the theoretical framework by paying particular attention to the synchronic and diachronic dimension of a management fashion.
Schools involved in the project: Portobello High School, Castlebrae High School, Drummond Communi... more Schools involved in the project: Portobello High School, Castlebrae High School, Drummond Community High School, Holy Rood RC High School, Leith Academy and Trinity Academy.
Dialogue has been at the centre of public relations theory for about thirty years; to be more pre... more Dialogue has been at the centre of public relations theory for about thirty years; to be more precise, the key concerns of the theory of dialogue have been worked on in public relations by researchers and writers using concepts of symmetrical communication, relationship management, or responsibility since the late 1970s. Seen in this way, the key question in the field has been one of purpose of public relations as a professional activity, i.e. What is public relations for? The answer, suggested in 1976 by Grunig's turn to the concept of symmetrical communication-which he subsequently identified as the first step towards the theory of excellent public relations (Grunig et al, 2006, p.23)-was that public relations should be guided by values of equality, reciprocity, and the civic ethos.
... Critical perspectives in public relations. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: L'E... more ... Critical perspectives in public relations. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: Author: L'Etang, Jacquie. Author: Pieczka, Magda. PUBLISHER: International Thomson Business Press (Boston). SERIES TITLE: YEAR: 1997. PUB TYPE: Book (ISBN 0415123003 ). ...
The combined effects of digital communication technologies, political upheavals around the world,... more The combined effects of digital communication technologies, political upheavals around the world, waves of powerful activism and protests have injected a new urgency into communication research. How communication theory is able to respond to this challenge is a matter of discussion, including the question of the adequacy of older theories to the new circumstances. This paper, aims to add to this discussion by returning to Habermas's pragmatics, one of the 20 th century communication classics, to reflect on how communication and other forms of action interact in campaigns for social change in the context of growing reach of strategic communication and the growing role of social media in activism. This article starts by posing theoretical disjuncture as a problem shared by a number of communication subfields, such as public communication, public relations, communication for social change, and my particular example, development communication. The more recent scholarship, however, has moved away from this state of knowledge. Instead, scholars highlight the need to embrace non-linear models, of communication for social change and appear to embrace hybridity to deal with the theoretical confusion in the field. The analysis presented in this article aims to demonstrate that Habermas's communication pragmatics works well to explicate complex campaigning practices in brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Queen Margaret University eResearch a consistent and yet theoretically expansive way. Re-reading Habermas makes it possible also to respond to the call articulated by social movement scholars to move beyond the limits of strategy and to recognize the importance of larger cultural conversations and scripts. Conceptualizing public campaigning as chains of speech acts, defined here as both linguistic and nonlinguistic acts, offers an analytical tool that works across different levels, spaces, and actors involved in social change efforts and that privileges communication as the explanatory mechanism for the contemporary social change praxis. Finally, returning to Habermas's work underscores the importance a valid position, rather than of desirable identity, from which to engage with others in the social world. This invites a clear and consistent focus on action and its basis (moral position) rather than on attributions ascribed to organizations and campaigners (identity). The key question thus shifts from 'Do you like me/trust me sufficiently follow me?' to a more substantial, 'Is this a good thing to do?'
Objective:The aim of this article is to extend and elaborate ways of conceptualising, enabling an... more Objective:The aim of this article is to extend and elaborate ways of conceptualising, enabling and practising peer leadership in whole-school alcohol education programmes.Design:Qualitative study involving individual and group interviews.Setting:The AlcoLOLs project took place in six secondary schools in North East Edinburgh (Scotland) from 2013 to 2015.Methods:A total of 21 individual and 4 group interviews with young people aged 14–18 who acted as peer leaders in the AlcoLOLs project. Interviews were conducted throughout the duration of the project as a means of hearing peer leaders’ individual voices, monitoring progress and evaluating the intervention. Data were analysed using the principles of thematic analysis.Results:The intervention demonstrates transformative multilevel learning (i.e. cognition, civic/communal attitudes, self-identity, self-efficacy, specific communication/team skills) for peer leaders resulting from the shared leadership process. Results indicate that ther...
Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic studies have examined how digital technolo... more Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic studies have examined how digital technologies can contribute to political participation, with numerous publications focusing on social networking websites. This article adds to this strand of research by tackling the scarcity of cross-national comparative studies in the field. Drawing from an original dataset acquired by combining a cross-national comparative approach and a mixed-methods methodology, this paper explores how media and political landscapes mediate the contributions of Facebook to citizens’ political participation in Italy and the United Kingdom. A participatory gap between Italian and British participants, with Italians displaying higher levels of political participation through Facebook, is found and explained with reference to three contextual factors: the greater diffusion and relevance of other online platforms such as Twitter in the UK; Italian participants’ more negative perception of traditional media link...
The idea that it is imperative for organizations, be they governments, businesses, scientific or ... more The idea that it is imperative for organizations, be they governments, businesses, scientific or arts institutions, to relate to the world in a new way has gathered momentum since the 1990s. Labeled as participation, involvement, partnership, collaboration, co-production, co-creation, or engagement, it has increasingly been institutionalized across a range of fields. This chapter deals specifically with the discourse of engagement in its three contextually shaped variants of public, employee, and stakeholder engagement as they appear in texts produced by expert practitioners. This discussion takes a critical perspective and investigates engagement by problematizing the phenomenon in a Foucauldian fashion. The chapter aims to show how engagement is constructed in discursive practices shared by engagement experts. It is, therefore, concerned with texts that combine instruction and prescription and thus constitute and regulate engagement. This discussion is developed in three steps, pr...
In the 1990s evaluation has been at the centre of a continued debate in public relations. With th... more In the 1990s evaluation has been at the centre of a continued debate in public relations. With the new millennium in sight public relations practitioners, academics and professional bodies are not only asking for an intensified discussion, but are also looking for guidelines of best practice which are seen as a necessary step for further development towards professionalism.
Introduction This paper examines the way in which innovation in policy making over the last decad... more Introduction This paper examines the way in which innovation in policy making over the last decade or so has been built around a discourse about communication and changing preference for different modes of communication with citizens. We frame this interest in debates and ...
With the concept of “liquid modernity” Bauman offers an understanding of postmodern society as a ... more With the concept of “liquid modernity” Bauman offers an understanding of postmodern society as a continuation of modernity. His idea of adiaphorization could inspire the pursuit of a sociological explanation of the problem of ethics in public relations practice. Responding to Bauman in research terms directs us towards hermeneutic phenomenology as an approach to illuminate public relations practice by exploring tensions and structures within the experience of the individual consciousness of practitioners. A number of specific points are offered in relation to the potential of Bauman’s work to contribute to research, pedagogy, and practice in public relations. These could be summarized under terms drawn from the sphere of Bauman’s thought such as: nomadism, disobedience, social hermeneutics, a commitment to the emancipatory goals of knowledge together with a commitment to humanity as the foundation for action. The discussion concludes with the importance of approaching public relatio...
This paper examines Dialogue as a managerial fashion that has emerged since the early 1990s. Whil... more This paper examines Dialogue as a managerial fashion that has emerged since the early 1990s. While the early parts of the paper rely on well-tried approaches to and arguments about the phenomenon, the middle part of the paper attempts to define dialogue as a fashion, and offers a discussion of the dynamics of fashion-setting. Finally, we attempt to extend the theoretical framework by paying particular attention to the synchronic and diachronic dimension of a management fashion.
Schools involved in the project: Portobello High School, Castlebrae High School, Drummond Communi... more Schools involved in the project: Portobello High School, Castlebrae High School, Drummond Community High School, Holy Rood RC High School, Leith Academy and Trinity Academy.
Dialogue has been at the centre of public relations theory for about thirty years; to be more pre... more Dialogue has been at the centre of public relations theory for about thirty years; to be more precise, the key concerns of the theory of dialogue have been worked on in public relations by researchers and writers using concepts of symmetrical communication, relationship management, or responsibility since the late 1970s. Seen in this way, the key question in the field has been one of purpose of public relations as a professional activity, i.e. What is public relations for? The answer, suggested in 1976 by Grunig's turn to the concept of symmetrical communication-which he subsequently identified as the first step towards the theory of excellent public relations (Grunig et al, 2006, p.23)-was that public relations should be guided by values of equality, reciprocity, and the civic ethos.
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