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Øyvind Ihlen, Prof.Dr.
PR and Disruptive Society: Perspectives from Social Theory
PR and Disruption: Embracing and Surviving Change 10 July, 2013, the London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts, London
3/10
The rest of us….
Functionalists
The PR research map of the 1990s, early 2000s
Dozier, David M., & Lauzen, Martha M. (2000). Liberating the intellectual domain from the practice: Public relations, activism, and the role of the scholar. Journal of Public Relations Research, 12(1), 3-22.
A quest for a (new) identity for PR research Premise: Need to demonstrate academic value
1. A new compass …
2. … a new focus on context …
What?
3. … new concepts …
4. … critical issues …
5. … (c)empirical avenues …
Conclusion
1. A new compass …
… a key aim of public relations is to achieve or resist change by persuasively advancing and potentially privileging particular meanings and actions
(Leitch & Motion, 2010)
1. A new compass …
• research domain: consequences, not only effectiveness
• key goal: to answer how PR work and what it does in, to, and for organizations, and the society as a whole
2. … a new focus on context …
diagnosis of society and remedies…
… a need to engage with social theory in a broader and deeper sense
2. … a new focus on context …
[A]n organization may be seen as located within one or several fields, in which they compete to position themselves in the social order. The actors seek to get their issues discussed, defined, and settled [with the help of public relations]
(Ihlen, 2009)
12/11
3. … new concepts …
• trust and legitimacy• understanding and reflection
3. … new concepts …
In order to handle the complexity and challenges created by public pressure, modernization, rationalization and social change, communicators need to approach their tasks in a reflective manner
(Holmström, 2004; van Ruler & Verčič, 2005)
3. … new concepts …
three functions of reflection:•self understanding•sensitivity in external observation
•own presentation(Holmström, 2009)
4. … critical issues …
• power
• behavior• language and communication
4. … critical issues …
constitutive effect: elements of communication, rather than being fixed in advance, are reflexively constituted within the act of communication itself (Craig, 2000)
5. … (c)empirical avenues …
• building from social theory…• … and a constructivist perspective
Conclusion
[Organizations need] to embrace diversity and variety and to balance the wisdom of its many voices with the effort to secure clarity and consistency in its overall expression
(Christensen, Fuat Firat, & Torp, 2008)
1. Compass: non-instrumental
2. Context: social perspective
Recap
3. Concepts: trust, reflection
4. Crit. issues: power, behavior, comm.
5. (C)empirical av.: soc. constr.
Conclusion
Ihlen, Ø., & Verhoeven, P. (2012). A public relations identity for the 2010s. Public Relations Inquiry, 1(2), 159-176.
