Public Relations and Social Theory : Key Figures, Concepts and Developments

Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures, Concepts and Developments broadens the theoretical scope of public relations studies by applying the work of a group of prominent social theorists to make sense of the practice. The volume focuses on the work of key social theorists, including Max Weber, Karl Marx, John Dewey, Jürgen Habermas, Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault, Ulrich Beck, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Robert Putnam, Erving Goffman, Peter L. Berger, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Bruno Latour, Dorothy Smith, Zygmunt Bauman, Harrison White, John W. Meyer, Luc Boltanski and Chantal Mouffe. Each chapter is devoted to an individual theorist, providing an overview of that theorist’s key concepts and contributions, and exploring how these can be applied to public relations as a practice. Each chapter also includes a box giving a short and concise presentation of the theorist, along with recommendation of key works and secondary literature.

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.