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The civility of social capital: Public relations in the public sphere, civil society, and democracy
Abstract
Scholars have analyzed public relations’ role in democracy via proxy concepts like the public sphere and civil society. However, some have critiqued the public sphere on grounds of equal access and portrayed civil society as a guise for first-world imperialism. These critiques have implications for the role of public relations in the public sphere and civil society. This article suggests the normative role of public relations in democracy is best perceived as creating the social capital that facilitates access to spheres of public discussion and in maintaining relationships among those organizations that check state power. To that end, the paper argues that social capital does much to advance public relations theory and prescribe the role of public relations in democracy. Several implications for public relations from a social capital perspective are offered, including the creation of generalized societal trust, the building of cross-cutting or “weak” ties, the engagement of media on behalf of subaltern counterpublics, and the (re)creation of community or a fully functioning society.
... For example, Etzioni (1993) wrote of the essence of a community as one in which its members genuinely care for each other. Starck and Kruckeberg (2001) and Sommerfeldt (2013) stated that the development of communities should be at the forefront of public relations theory and practice. They argued that, through public relations, a sense of community ought to be fostered where members engage in similar activities and communal responsibilities. ...
... These studies explained the characteristics through which communities could be identified but did not elaborate on the communication principles that should be utilised to build such communities. Hallahan (2004) and Sommerfeldt (2013) saw participation as a determining communication factor in the development of a community and advocated for the use of participation to engage its members as a way of fostering a sense of community. Hou and Macnamara (2017) elaborated on how participation should be used to engage community members as active participants in the co-creation of communication, instead of being passive spectators. ...
... Previously, participation and collaboration were identified in public relations research as principles that could assist in community building (Hallahan, 2004;Hou & Macnamara, 2017;Sollis, 2023;Sommerfeldt, 2013), and the concept of shared values and interests was identified as a means to develop internal communities (Shen & Jiang, 2021), confirmed by the findings from our case study. However, our research yielded two further principles: a sense of belonging, and transparency and ethical communication, neither of which have been recognised in limited previous research on fostering internal communities. ...
Rethinking internal communication from a community perspective has been advocated, but little is available on the communication principles underpinning internal community-building. This qualitative case study of a South African retirement village, where semi-structured interviews with management, as well as focus groups with residents were used to collect data, enabled the inductive identification of four communication principles that foster internal communities within this non-traditional internal context: participation and collaboration; shared values (both of which were previously identified in the building of communities); inclusivity and a sense of belonging; and transparency and ethical communication (of which neither was previously linked to internal community-building). These four principles align with the two-way symmetrical communication worldview and the African philosophy of ubuntu; their identification extends the public relations body of knowledge on community building through internal communication in the South African context.
... For example, Etzioni (1993) wrote of the essence of a community as one in which its members genuinely care for each other. Starck and Kruckeberg (2001) and Sommerfeldt (2013) stated that the development of communities should be at the forefront of public relations theory and practice. They argued that, through public relations, a sense of community ought to be fostered where members engage in similar activities and communal responsibilities. ...
... These studies explained the characteristics through which communities could be identified but did not elaborate on the communication principles that should be utilised to build such communities. Hallahan (2004) and Sommerfeldt (2013) saw participation as a determining communication factor in the development of a community and advocated for the use of participation to engage its members as a way of fostering a sense of community. Hou and Macnamara (2017) elaborated on how participation should be used to engage community members as active participants in the co-creation of communication, instead of being passive spectators. ...
... Previously, participation and collaboration were identified in public relations research as principles that could assist in community building (Hallahan, 2004;Hou & Macnamara, 2017;Sollis, 2023;Sommerfeldt, 2013), and the concept of shared values and interests was identified as a means to develop internal communities (Shen & Jiang, 2021), confirmed by the findings from our case study. However, our research yielded two further principles: a sense of belonging, and transparency and ethical communication, neither of which have been recognised in limited previous research on fostering internal communities. ...
Rethinking internal communication from a community perspective has been advocated, but little is available on the communication principles underpinning internal community-building. This qualitative case study of a South African retirement village, where semi-structured interviews with management, as well as focus groups with residents were used to collect data, enabled the inductive identification of four communication principles that foster internal communities within this non-traditional internal context: participation and collaboration, and shared values (both of which were previously identified in the building of communities), and inclusivity and a sense of belonging, and transparency and ethical communication (of which neither was previously linked to internal community-building). These four principles align with the two-way symmetrical communication worldview and the African philosophy of ubuntu; their identification extends the public relations body of knowledge on community building through internal communication in the South African context.
... An important way communication scholars and public relations practitioners can seek to destigmatize and advocate for mental disorder equity is through public discourse. Previous research has argued that public relations scholars and practitioners have the unique ability and role to create invaluable spaces for this discourse to occur and ultimately contribute to a "healthy" public sphere (Sommerfeldt, 2013;Williams & Sommerfeldt, 2021). In this public sphere, people can engage in conversations related to social activism to freely discuss and identify societal problems in an effort to change them. ...
... Ultimately, Sommerfeldt (2013) argued that "public relations is necessary to ensure the existence of competing interests in the public sphere, as these interests ensure the fair debate of public issues" (p. 281). ...
... For example, Greta Thunberg's use of Twitter and Instagram for building awareness and advocacy of the climate crisis has resulted in an increase in discussions related to climate change and protests calling on world leaders to take important steps to mitigate the predicted crisis (Jung et al., 2020). While public relations scholarship has acknowledged the important role social media influencers can play in brand reputation building (Navarro et al., 2020) and the role of public relations practitioners in facilitating the public sphere (Sommerfeldt, 2013), a dearth of research remains on the intersection of public relations and ND. Thus, this chapter was guided by the following research question: RQ: How do content creators who self-identify as being neurodivergent communicate about neurodivergence on the platform TikTok? ...
The neurodivergence (ND) movement has sought to reframe societal perceptions of neurologically based conditions, like autism, from viewing ND as problematic conditions that need to be eradicated to seeing ND as beneficial forms of mental diversity. The chapter seeks to understand how self-identified ND creators on TikTok communicate about ND through the lens of critical discourse analysis. Through the qualitative analysis of 376 videos across 10 creators' profiles and 1,880 comments findings of this chapter seek to better understand how social media platforms may contribute to the (de)stigmatization and empowerment of ND through the facilitation of the public sphere. Findings suggest that creators play an important role as ambassadors for ND building awareness, engaging in advocacy, and empowering the concept of ND. Further, creators' profiles meet the criteria necessary for facilitating a public sphere. From these findings, recommendations for ND-inclusive public relations practices and strategies are proposed.
... However, it should be noted that whether an organization's CSA actually solves social issues is not a necessary conceptual component of perceived authenticity in CSA, but rather such actual result is connected to the CSA's consequence. Nonetheless, individuals' perceptions of authenticity in CSA may be related to the organization fulfilling its societal role as a social actor in civil society (Sommerfeldt, 2013). ...
... Implementing such action plans within CSA initiatives will likely enhance perceptions of commitment among individuals. In the context of civic engagement, organizations that demonstrate high levels of authenticity in their CSA efforts can contribute to the development of social capital, foster improvements within communities, and promote democratic ideals within the public domain (Sommerfeldt, 2013). ...
... Social capital is often pictured as fostering trust and reciprocity within civil society (e.g., Aldrich & Meyer, 2015;Boeri et al., 2021;Fukuyama, 2000;Putnam, 2000;Putnam et al., 1992;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Taylor, 2011). However, the more critical branch of civil society scholarship has pointed out that this view is overly optimistic, or at least not complete in its coverage of the dynamics and vulnerabilities of social capital within civil society (e.g., Berman, 1997;Chambers & Kopstein, 2001;Gambetta, 1993;Kopecký & Mudde, 2003;Levi, 1996;Portes, 1998;Portes, 2014;Trigilia, 2001;van Deth & Zmerli, 2010). ...
... The dominant, positive connotations of civil society often lean on ideas of social capital as fostering trust and reciprocity within civil society (e.g., Aldrich & Meyer, 2015;Boeri et al., 2021;Fukuyama, 2000;Putnam, 2000;Putnam et al., 1992;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Taylor, 2011). Social capital is essentially understood as based on relations, which require mutual acquaintance and recognition (Bourdieu, 1985, pp. ...
In this article, we study polarization within civil society. While earlier research on civil society has shown that civil society organizations can be divisive, research on polarization has only paid scant attention to the role of civil society. We bring these two aspects of the literature together to develop a framework for analyzing social capital in a polarized context. The framework helps identify practices that organizations may engage in when shaping social capital and working with others: facilitating the flow of information; providing credentials for actors; influencing agents; and reinforcing identity and recognition. Importantly, while originally developed for a fundamentally positive analysis of the mechanics of social capital, this framework includes inverted practices. In our analysis, we observe a bifurcation of actions depending on what role they play in the polarization dynamic – integrating relations within the poles or separating relations between the poles. In this sense, social capital contributes to intensified polarization. Empirically, the article is based on a dataset of 30 interviews with 24 policy-oriented civil society organizations (CSOs), here termed think tanks, in Poland.
... Social media use by publics and organizations supports strategic communication initiatives. Engagement has also been studied in social movements and networks (Saffer, 2016;Sommerfeldt, 2013). ...
... Putnam et al. (1993, p. 167) argue social capital 'refers to features of social organization such as trust, norms, and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated action'. The concept of social capital describes resources embedded in relationships between system/network members (Coleman, 1988;Doerfel et al., 2010;Lin, 2001;Saffer, 2016;Sommerfeldt, 2013). Sommerfeldt and Taylor (2011, p. 198) argue that to understand social capital requires understanding 'the social relationships between actors' and the resources they exchange. ...
... Increasingly, over recent years, the societal role of public relations has been the subject of discussion (Heath, 2018;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Taylor, 2010). Public relations has been associated positively and negatively to providing societal value and contributing to the common good (Gregory, 2019;Ihlen, Ruler, & Fredrikson, 2009). ...
... Public relations has been associated positively and negatively to providing societal value and contributing to the common good (Gregory, 2019;Ihlen, Ruler, & Fredrikson, 2009). In parallel, the heretofore dominant organization-centric perspective, has been criticized for failing to consider public interests be essential (Johnston, 2017) and the power dynamics between organizations and their publics (Ihlen & Levenshus, 2017;Liu & Horsley, 2007;Liu, Levenshus, & Horsley, 2012;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Sommerfeldt & Yang, 2018). Additionally, a recognition that approaches that incorporate and serve the interests of those who are disempowered by modernism and globalization are seen to be essential (Johnston, 2017;Weaver, 2001). ...
This article proposes combining public relations and development communication insights so that organizations, particularly in the public sector, can engage and empower rural communities to adopt and exploit infrastructure developments for mutual benefit. Applying appreciative inquiry to explore the communication process involved in the development of micro-hydro power plants in Kulon Progo Regency, Indonesia, this article offers a view from those who are regarded as the target of communication, as the opposed to those take an organizational standpoint. The study proposes a new development project communication model which seeks to initiate, secure and sustain positive community outcomes and meet the project initiators’ requirements. This is achieved through collaboration and the gradual relinquishment of power and decision-making from the latter to the former. The model emphasizes the importance of the processes of communication as well as outcomes, and considers rural communities as having agency, rather than as objects of or for development. By embracing community assets such as local knowledge and contextual wisdom and the characteristics of collective communities in non-Western countries such as togetherness, reciprocity, a strong sense of shared destiny, locality, and fraternity, the model offers a community centric approach which encourages progressive community empowerment and ownership. The evidence points to the impacts for both communities and governments being more beneficial and sustainable than current communication practices.
... Social distances derived by power differentials in democratic nations may be shorter on average than those in undemocratic polities. A democratic polity not only provides easier access to power elites but may also reduce the general relational gaps among people on the streets and in workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, voluntary associations, and religious congregations (Bekiaris and Daskalopoulou, 2022;Sommerfeldt, 2013). ...
The study proposes an integrative model of individual social capital and examines if trust, social networks, and social resources are related across countries. Although trust and social resources were often referred to as social capital or its essential components, the literature lacks empirical verification of whether and how they are associated. Particularly, examining the relationship by a specific measurement of social networks is imperative. The relationship should be identified considering the influences of country-level contingencies. The study applied a multilevel within-between mixed regression method to the International Social Survey Program 2017 data from 30 countries. Using a position generator of social networks, the study found that generalized trust was associated with interpersonal networks primarily through weak ties across countries, accounting for country-level contingencies. Both strong and weak ties were instrumental in embedding social resources. The results supported the integrative model of social capital that connects generalized trust to social resources.
... The third context is corporate social responsibility engagement, where engagement entails enacting corporate initiatives deemed beneficial to local stakeholders and the public (Burchell & Cook, 2006;Devin & Lane, 2014;Wang & Chaudhri, 2009). The fourth context is civic engagement and social capital, where engagement works to build social capital and improve communities (Dodd et al., 2015;Sommerfeldt, 2013). The fifth context is dialogic engagement, which is a dialogic approach to corporate communication and recognizes the principle of propinquity (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 26). ...
This study aims to investigate the impact of gamification as applied to public relations, specifically its ability to engage the public with social issues. Using a survey of users on a corporate-sponsored sustainability-themed gamification platform (N = 417), the study examines the effects of two gamified two-way communication strategies—feedback and value co-creation—on the public’s feeling of engagement. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of motivational experiences and perceptions of the organization-public relationship in this process. The findings provide empirical evidence that gamification can enhance corporate public engagement programs by offering motivational affordances, thus creating an encouraging environment that satisfies individual users’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Consequently, positive perceptions of the relationship with the company are strengthened, leading to increased psychological engagement. This study’s contribution to the field lies in its novel perspective on gamification research within the context of public relations, bridging the gap in empirical research regarding its effectiveness in corporate communication. It sheds light on the potential of gamification as a valuable tool for corporate public engagement.
... Some participants also proposed overhauling value systems to better reflect community interests and positively impact communication in this study. In the above context, social organisations can be exhaustively served by public relations when this field is understood in relation to its influence on discourses in society (Weaver, Motion, and Roper 2006) or on how it enhances the public sphere (Sommerfeldt 2013). ...
Organisation-centric approaches in development communication and public relations that privilege the organisation can restrict communication to organisational mandates and goals. Organisation-centric approaches can reflect a modernist view of development or communication and have been critiqued for favouring technocratic development rather than serving marginalised groups. Currently, scholars in development communication and public relations place greater emphasis on publics or community participation and the processual nature of communication to overcome adverse organisational influence and propose better solutions.
This article recognises theoretical advances in development communication and public relations and adopts the Collaborative Communication Approach, integrating current concepts from these two fields. The Collaborative Communication Approach facilitates an examination of communication in development in relation to five elements of power, context, participation, agency, and profession. This article shows how the five elements prove useful in addressing communication challenges in development through primary research and offers eight distinct categories to advance practice.
... Which are harmonized with the interests of the institution and common goals, and try to recognize, identify things that can give rise to negative image in society before the company policy is implemented. While outwardly functions to seek the growth of positive public attitudes and opinions towards all company policies which can further enhance the company image and maintain the company's image (Sommerfeldt, 2013;Fitzpatrick, 2007;Steyn, 2009). ...
Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the programs from Public Relations PT Samudera Indonesia Tbk as the social responsibility program for the impact of the environment. The target of this program is RW 11 Kampung Tanjung Priok. The research aims to find out the implementation of the concept of 3P profit, planet, and people, to find out the form of communication channels and communication barriers, and to find out the reason of PT. Samudera Indonesia Tbk chose Kampung Lestari Samudera Indonesia in Corporate Social Responsibility programs to build a positive corporate image. The method of the research was qualitative research with a case studies approach and used the concepts of CSR implementation by Wibisono and the concept of 3P profit, planet, and people by John Elkington. The object of this research is PT. Samudera Indonesia Tbk. The technique used for this research are interviewing, observations, study literature, and documentation. Results of the research showed that at planning stage, Public Relations undertake socializing with RW 11 Kampung Tanjung Priok and making activity plans including make a vision, mission, goals, targets, formulating programs, determining human resources, and providing needs. At implementation stage, the company carried out several activities as installation of Filter Udara, Bank Sampah, and Kebun Gizi. At evaluation stage, Public Relations held an evaluation meeting with Ketua RW 11 and Karang Taruna RW 11 in Kampung Tanjung Priok for the sustainability program, and at the reporting stage, Public Relations make an LPJ report and Karang Taruna make a report of activities results. The communication channels that used by PT. Samudera Indonesia Tbk is a website channel, and the communications barriers that occur are mechanical noise and sematic noise and the company chosen this CSR program as a strategy to build a positive corporate image.
... (Doran & Burgess, 2012;Guedes, Moreira, Teixeira & Cardoso, 2018;Jackson & Gray, 2010). Estudos sugerem que o medo da violência -reação emocional caracterizada por ansiedade e senso de perigo (Garofalo, 1981) -concorre para a diminuição da coesão entre moradores dos bairros (Alper & Chappell, 2012;Spelman, 2004) e da confiança entre as pessoas (Garofalo, 1981), propiciando aumento do isolamento social (Ross & Mirowsky, 2000) em decorrência de comportamentos de esquiva ou de hostilidade frente a desconhecidos (Garofalo, 1981;Simunovic, Mifune & Yamagish, 2013;Sommerfeldt, 2013) e por conta também da desorganização comunitária (Lorenc et al., 2013), o que favorece o uso de mecanismos de controle formal em detrimento do informal. (Gibson, Zhao, Lovrich, & Gaffney, 2002;Samuels & Judd, 2002). ...
... They can act as decision-makers, such as expressing their opinion by interacting with the legitimate competent authority. In fact (Yang & Callahan, 2005;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Willis, 2012;Taylor & Kent, 2014;Johnston & Lane, 2019;Piqueiras et al., 2020), mentioned that effective engagement requires constant interactions between the public and community and this can not only contribute to collective engagement but also to mutual trust and reciprocity. Besides, in the field of public administration, researchers discovered that when citizens participate in a discussion forum or join a political group, whether it is a physical or virtual interaction, there is a higher level of engagement in civic action. ...
During the past years, environmental protection and adopting countermeasures against climate change have been on the agenda of many East African countries, as well as western nations, although a common challenge confronted by policymakers is directing young people’s interest toward the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of certain factors that can be adopted by government bodies as a strategy to make youth more engaged in environmental activities. An electronic questionnaire was completed by Djiboutian young people from February 2022 to late June 2022. We retrieved 440 out of 500 questionnaires; a structural equation model was subsequently employed to assess the effects of government rewards, interactions, capacity building and favourable policies on youth engagement. According to the results, all the factors demonstrated a positive impact on youth engagement; consequently, we conclude that young people have tendencies to engage in activities that revolve around environmental issues when there is a reward system in place. Likewise, establishing an interactive platform that accommodates young people’s opinions while the government provides reasonable feedback will stimulate engagement. Reasonably, embracing policies in favour of the environment will depict the government as an effective, responsible leader, retroactively influencing young people’s perceptions. On the other hand, allowing youths to participate in the process of policies formulation will guarantee a long-term societal engagement, since, pragmatically speaking, these adopted policies will eventually influence their future; at the same time, we conclude that providing proper training and building young people’s capacity will provide them with fundamental personal skills, while simultaneously enhancing their sustainable attitude to respond adequately to environmental challenges consequently assisting the national government with their environmental endeavours. Finally, the following paper contributes to the relevant existing body of literature, by providing empirical evidence on different types of government initiatives that could make young people more engaged and inclined in environmental issues.
... Public sector organisations are central actors that facilitate public discourse in democratic societies (Capizzo, 2018;Macnamara, 2016;Sommerfeldt, 2013;Taylor and Kent, 2014). Unfortunately, most public sector organisations still focus on traditional speaking roles, even on social platforms that enable listening and dialog (Macnamara, 2016;Theunissen and Wan Noordin, 2012;Watkins, 2017). ...
Purpose
During the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector organisations produced thousands of social media messages weekly answering citizens questions and informing the public on safety related matters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the pandemic shaped social media listening in Finland's public sector organisations and how these organisations aligned their listening and strategic communication to address emerging questions, news (real and fake) and rumours during the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on a theoretical background from strategic communication, organisational listening, digital marketing and public sector communication, qualitative interview data included communicators ( N = 14) from all central Finnish public sector organisations in charge of COVID-19 communication. Findings were themed and analysed qualitatively to understand the level of alignment of strategic communication on social media.
Findings
The findings revealed that the pandemic had strained public sector organisations' communication capabilities, forcing them to align their processes and resources reactively to enable useful content and limit false/misleading content. The results confirmed that organisational listening remained somewhat unaligned. A dual role of public sector communication as speakers but increasingly as listeners was highlighted.
Originality/value
The study’s findings point to organisational listening on social media being a central requisite for public sector organisations overcoming a crisis.
... Las relaciones públicas son un área con gran proyección en el ámbito profesional y académico, teniendo repercusión en el aspecto organizativo (Moreno, Verhoeven, Tench y Zerfass, 2014; Verčič, Zerfass y Wiesenberg, 2015) y en la sociedad (Xifra, 2020). Asistimos a un cambio en los enfoques bajo los que se trabajan las relaciones públicas, puesto que se atiende a lo que interesa a las organizaciones y a su contribución al capital social (Botan y Taylor, 2004;Sommerfeldt, 2013), pero también a la democracia (Hurst y Johnston, 2021), y al estudio del rol de la mujer tanto en el ámbito profesional (Moreno, Khalil-Tolosa y Tench, 2021), como en el académico, el cual resulta aún más escaso y, como comenta Topic et al. (2019), marginal. ...
Este artículo aborda la experiencia académica y profesional de las profesoras que imparten materias de relaciones públicas en las universidades de España. En concreto se analiza el caso de las universidades andaluzas con el fin de evaluar su afinidad y pertinencia a los contenidos de los planes de estudio, así como su situación laboral. Andalucía representa la región más poblada de España y concentra gran parte de la oferta nacional de grado. Mediante una metodología descriptiva, a través del análisis de contenido, se han estudiado 3 parámetros: docencia, investigación y experiencia académica y profesional de las docentes, comparando además su situación con la de los hombres. Las fuentes de información empleadas han sido las webs de las universidades y la información disponible en ORCID, Google Académico, LinkedIn, Academia y Researchgate. Como resultados nos encontramos con un equipo de docentes feminizado, con contratos temporales y con asignaturas muy fragmentadas; con experiencia docente e investigadora pertinente al área, aunque con escasa trayectoria profesional. Los hombres acaparan los puestos más estables. Se observa una desigual carga docente en el área entre las distintas universidades andaluzas. Como conclusión planteamos que el establecimiento de criterios que permitieran consolidar a las mujeres y al profesorado en su puesto laboral y en la elección estable de materias de relaciones públicas, facilitarían la conciliación, la mejora y pertinencia de la calidad docente e investigadora del profesorado andaluz. Es necesario seguir trabajando para mejorar la igualdad laboral de las mujeres y su acceso a la carrera académica en las mismas condiciones que sus compañeros.
... On the other hand, Sommerfeldt (2013) regards public relations as a tool for acquiring social capital by focusing on the importance of it for civil society and the public sphere. Seeing civil society as a prerequisite for democracy, Sommerfeldt (2013) states that the greatest contribution of public relations to society lies in enabling the society to function by allowing different views. According to Coombs & Holladay (2007, p. 27), who define public relations as the "megaphone for ideas" public relations allow different voices to be heard. ...
The concept of public interest, which is used as a way for public relations to differentiate itself from propaganda or other negative connotations, is among the basic concepts utilized by public relations practitioners and academics working in the field of public relations. Compliments or criticisms of public relations are generally shaped by the discussion on whether public relations serve the public interest, although there is no direct reference to the concept. While mainstream approaches in public relations claim that public relations serve the public interest and the public interest is the raison d’être of public relations, critical approaches underline that public relations serve the market interest instead of the public interest. This study, which focuses on the public interest debates in the public relations literature with a theoretical discussion over the tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and confectionery industries, aims to examine the relation between public interest and public relations by opening the discussion on the axis of the concepts of dialogue, ethics, and democracy. In this context, the study claims that public relations cannot work the common good due to examples of the aforementioned industries that do not comply with the concept of public interest; however, public relations is a rhetorical instrument that makes corporations appear as if they serve the public interest.
... Studi tentang civil society dan demokrasi juga pernah dikaji oleh para sarjana (Fioramonti, L., & Fiori, 2010;Hadiwijoya, 2012;Lidauer, 2012;Marta, A., Suwaryo, U., Sulaeman, A., & Agustino, 2020;Mavrikos-Adamou, 2010;Mietzner, 2012;Pitidol, 2016;Sommerfeldt, 2013). Berdasarkan studi yang telah dilakukan tersebut yang lebih banyak menitik beratkan pada pengalaman empiris negara-negara di dunia dalam mengelola civil society dalam proses demokratisasi. ...
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan eksplanasi tentang relasi antara civil society, demokrasi, dan demokratisasi dan menjelaskan kontribusi civil society terhadap demokratisasi. Metode yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah dengan library research atau studi kepustakaan. Sumber informasi dari kajian ini adalah dari buku-buku dan jurnal-jurnal hasil penelitian yang dianalisis dengan teori yang relevan. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat hubungan yang erat secara konseptual dan praktikal antara civil society, demokrasi, dan demokratisasi. Civil society mempunyai implikasi yang positif dan negatif terhadap demokratisasi. Implikasi positif dari civil society terhadap demokratisasi ini ketika mampu berperan dalam membawa perubahan dari otoritarianism kepada konsolidasi demokrasi dengan mengambil peran sebagai penyeimbang kekuatan negara, membela kepentingan publik, serta mampu mempengaruhi agenda kebijakan negara untuk kesejahteraan bersama. Sebaliknya, civil society juga mempunyai implikasi negatif apabila didominasi paham etnosentrisme, radikal, dan berorientasi kepada kekuasaan.
... (Sommerfeldt, 2013). Koalisi atau aliansi masyarakat sipil yang telah dibangun diharapkan dapat berperan, berkoordinasi, dan bekerjasama guna membantu penyelenggara Pilkada. ...
Kegiatan sekolah Pemilu ini berawal dari kekhawatiran akan dampak dari Pemilihan Kepala Daerah (Pilkada) Tahun 2020 yang tetap diselenggarakan pada masa COVID-19. Kekhawatiran ini tidak hanya mengenai penyebaran COVID-19 yang ditimbulkan akibat proses Pilkada, akan tetapi kekhawatiran tidak terwujudnya Pilkada yang berkualitas, berintegritas dan memenuhi prinsip-prinsip demokrasi. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan kemitraan bersama penyelenggara Pilkada baik Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU) dan Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum (Bawaslu) di Provinsi Riau. Metode kegiatan ini dilakukan dengan webinar series dengan menyiapkan kurikulum pembelajaran dan evaluasi secara komprehensif terhadap peserta sekolah Pemilu. Hasil kegiatan ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat potensi yang dapat dikembangkan dari kader Pemilu yakni modal sosial, komitmen dan tanggung jawab, serta penguasaan terhadap teknologi informasi. Kesimpulan yang dapat diambil dalam kegiatan ini adalah keterlibatan multi-stakeholder mutlak diperlukan dalam mendukung pelaksanaan Pilkada serentak masa COVID-19 agar dapat berkualitas dan berintegritas. Penegakan disiplin protokol kesehatan menjadi kunci dari pelaksanaan Pilkada yang aman terbebas dari penyebaran COVID-19
... A inovação social situa-se, principalmente, no âmbito do terceiro setor, contudo, também pode estar presente nas políticas públicas e nas ações de responsabilidade social das empresas de caráter privado (ANDRÉ; ABREU, 2006 Isso remete diretamente para a atuação estratégica da sociedade civil na busca pela efetivação da democracia participativa que se expressa na criação de espaços públicos e no engajamento da própria sociedade civil nos processos de discussão e de tomada de decisões relacionados com as questões sociais e políticas públicas (TEIXEIRA; DAGNINO; SILVA, 2002;YANG;HOLGAARD, 2012). Logo, a sociedade civil desempenha um papel fundamental em qualquer sociedade, que detém todos os responsáveis por suas ações, impulsionado pela busca da transformação social, que prossegue a equidade e a justiça, os direitos humanos para todos, preservação do meio ambiente e dos recursos naturais, ela reflete e defende a dignidade de todas as pessoas (SOMMERFELDT, 2013). ...
O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar o papel das organizações da sociedade civil e suas relações interinstitucionais nas iniciativas de inovação social. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo de caso de natureza qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória na Articulação do Semiárido e como unidades de análise, investigou-se as organizações da sociedade civil vinculadas ao caso. Os resultados demonstram que a OSC desempenha os papéis de representar a sociedade civil em uma perspectiva democrática, expressando seus interesses e valores. Percebe-se que o Estado deixa de ser o único agente responsável pela elaboração de políticas públicas com foco nas principais necessidades da população, permitindo um processo de articulação bottom-up. No envolvimento com os atores institucionais, desempenham o papel de legitimação de suas escolhas; fazendo-se cumprir as relações contratuais e articulam o financiamento das iniciativas de inovação social. Evidencia-se a importância das OSC’s para a promoção de ações coletivas, na busca da transformação social.
... The public sphere is an arena where people come together for participation and open discussions (Holub, 2013) and what has drawn Habermas (1991) to the public sphere in the past and present has been the importance of this concept as the basis for a critique of society based on democratic principles (Bruns, 2018). Explaining the concept of the public sphere, Habermas (1991) states that the public sphere is a realm of social life in which something like public opinion can take shape (Sommerfeldt, 2013). Citizens or people who have come together as economic or professional people in the private sphere only care about managing their private affairs. ...
Purpose-This paper aims to find out how tourists in Tehran experience its public areas and pursue two main purposes. The first is to understand the characteristics of the public sphere in Tehran and the second is to discover a way in which the public sphere can play a role in facilitating urban tourism in Tehran.
Design/methodology/approach-The methodology used in this study is qualitative and phenomenological. In-depth interviews with 26 participants were used to collect data. The interviews were then transcribed, and Maxqda software was used to analyze them.
Findings-The findings show that the public sphere is a useful tool to discover and explain how to talk and act in different places in Tehran. This sphere is evolving over time, from access to dialogue and finally to action. Although it is not possible to draw a clear line between the different levels of the public sphere, it seems that tourists in Tehran have now entered the literary public sphere. Although they have made efforts, they have not been able to reach the political public sphere and public action. The most important obstacles are the government and the citizens of Tehran.
Originality/value-This paper is unique about the connection between the public sphere and urban tourism. The public sphere is a manifestation of the principles of reciprocity and critical debate in the city and a space for understanding through public debate. The public sphere is also a space for equality, rationality and mutual understanding between individuals and reasoning based on speech exchange. Roles that, if given to tourists, could change tourism policy in Iran.
Purpose
The social dynamics of publics represents an essential view to understanding and theorizing publics, which complements the traditional psychological approach. Taking a personal network perspective, this study examines how publics’ issue capital accessible in issue discussion networks influence their communication with and substantive support for organizations in an issue context.
Design/methodology/approach
An online egocentric network survey was administered with a nationally representative sample ( N = 1,146). The survey measured the structure and composition of participants’ issue discussion networks as well as participants’ communicative and substantive issue actions.
Findings
The survey results revealed that network size, issue discussion frequency and alters’ issue expertise stand as three strong indicators of issue capital consistently associated with almost all types of communicative and substantive actions. Network heterogeneity and density were only associated with certain types of issue actions.
Originality/value
This study represents a pioneering effort to examine issue publics within the context of their personal networks. The focus on issue discussion networks illuminates important social forces that shape publics’ issue actions, which moves beyond intra-personal psychological factors. Overall, the study leverages a personal network perspective to offer insights into the sociological dynamics of publics. Notably, the study introduces issue capital as a vital theoretical framework in interpreting the network effects on publics’ engagement with issues.
A holistic approach to anti-racism and social justice in the public relations classroom requires moving beyond mere allyship with underrepresented students and embracing the role of an accomplice in the classroom. Accomplices understand their engagement as sustained solidarity toward both interpersonal inclusion and structural change. This paper presents four brief autoethnographies from public relations faculty in the United States, using their narratives about allyship and accompliceship as a springboard for theory building and action toward social change.
Livelihoods are becoming increasingly defined by one’s (in)ability for and agency over movement, that is, mobility, especially on the transnational scale. Simultaneously, the relational turn of public relations scholarship has emphasized a network perspective, examining how a set of relations among social actors comprise, maintain, and/or disrupt society. Yet the development of the network perspective in public relations has not been without its limitations, notably the absence of public perspectives, actions, and realities—all of which impact the communicative interactions that produce the public’s social networks. Through a qualitative approach to social network analysis (SNA) that integrates ethnographic observations and visual network mapping alongside interviews with recent Afghan refugees and representatives from migrant-serving/advocacy organizations, this research incorporates public and organizational perspectives to highlight mobility as an increasingly important dimension to public formation and relationship dynamics. This monograph proposes the mobile social network ecology, a concept that integrates social network analysis and experiences of public mobility, to better consider mobility’s impacts on key public relationships, inclusive of distinct migrant publics, the civil society organizations (CSOs) that seek to serve them, and their linkages to civil societies on a transnational scale.
Purpose
Although significant research has been developed in the Global North regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the communication field, the subject has been neglected in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The purpose of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, this article analyzes to what extent DEI policies are implemented in LAC organizations, and on the other, it examines how four contextual variables (trust, democracy, economic development and happiness) impact the development of DEI in the region.
Design/methodology/approach
A dataset corresponding to the 2022/2023 edition of the Latin American Communication Monitor is used. For the study of DEI policies and their relationship with communication management in the region, four dimensions of study are defined, as well as two indices related to DEI.
Findings
The most relevant category linked to DEI for LAC professionals is generation and age, above other usually more consolidated categories such as gender or sexual orientation. As for contextual variables, only democracy seems to really influence the incorporation of DEI policies in communications, given that generalized trust would not affect their implementation, while happiness and economic development do not show conclusive evidence.
Originality/value
This study can contribute to expanding the knowledge on the corporate communication field by conducting contextualized and more inclusive research and, therefore, decolonizing proposals from the Global North.
Drawing upon in-depth interviews with seasoned public relations practitioners, this study suggests that the field of public relations in Russia has gradually transformed over the last 30 years from being relatively independent to being largely subordinated to political and business elites. Failure to sustain the role of public relations as a driver of democratization has coincided with the overall decline of democratic institutions in the country. Current practices in the field primarily focus on promoting government and business interests and lack a systemic approach to developing relations with citizens to address social problems. This study, which focuses on the Russian context, contributes to the body of literature on business communications and international public relations by analyzing how a country’s sociopolitical and economic context can influence transformations within the field of public relations; in this case, evolving from being relatively independent to becoming subordinate to political and business elites.
Through the lens of Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic pentad, this study examines the role of the city as a consequential forum for environmental activists—providing efficient and dynamic platforms of expression and contestation and opportunities for public communication outreach. Building on the view of urbanist Jane Jacobs that cities only reach their democratic potential when they are inclusive, responsive, and created by all, the metropolis is explored in terms of both its viability and untapped potential for activist communicators. This study also builds upon previous research asserting the city as both a site of continuous transformation and communication conduit for social change. In this context, cities provide a key platform for public communication practitioners and audiences, as well as for exploring environmental advocacy as a socio-cultural practice. Such a platform also aligns with the argument for the role of public relations as a vehicle for relationship cultivation, organizational participation in public life, and democratic dialogue. This study ultimately establishes a popular environmental dramatism that forges the geography of public relations to material and symbolic ecological change.
Global trends show that the civic space is shrinking. Specifically, civic space for Civil Society Organizations draws more attention. The shrinkage is caused by increased authoritarianism and democratic backsliding. Experience shows that advocacy based Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are more affected. The situation in Tanzania is comparable to other parts of the world. However, literature in Tanzania does not establish experiences to characterize the civic space of advocacy NGOs and does not explore the effects of existing civic space on advocacy NGOs. Drawing on Tanzania, this study examines NGOs experience and the effects of civic space on their roles. This study is anchored in interpretivism and case studies, following a qualitative path. Four NGOs and 10 activists were included. Interviews and documentary reviews were used to collect data, and a thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that the civic spaces for advocacy NGOs is changing, unpredictable and contested. There has been negative and positive experiences due to change of political regimes. This causes advocacy NGOs to fail to have long‐term plans, increased fear, loose focus and fail to emerge as strong democratic institutions. NGOs must push for, and the government should accept constitutional, and legal changes to ensure NGOs effective functioning. This specific focus could be extended to other parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, where advocacy NGOs face the same challenges.
Public relations practitioners and academics have long debated the merits of licensing; however, licensing has not been adopted due to a lack of appetite among practitioners as well as concerns about the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Using an analogy with the professions that practice therapy, we argue that licensing of public relations can comply with the First Amendment by providing incentives to licensees, as opposed to restricting the practice of the unlicensed. We identify several potential incentives and provide a detailed analysis of a proposed right to legally privileged communication. We conclude with suggestions for next steps toward creation of licensing and resources that may help in this endeavor.
In this study, we write regarding creativity and innovation in public relations, of which it is evident that we need as a necessary means in supporting managerial judgments. For us, creativity in public relations can be a new way to achieve a goal easier, more efficient and faster. It is evident that every client acknowledges creativity, but in frequent situations, it does not convert into evident cases or messages for a mass audience and then is not visible. We also discuss in our study the profile of a ingenious public relations professional, who must be: engaged, instructed, ambitious for performance, having logical knowledge, having malleable and decisive judgment, being an idealist. In this analysis we will make an investigation to show that ingenuity can appear in one of the subsequent positions at the corporate administration zone: either in planning (positioning, outlining) or implementation (technique, presentation information, knowledge).
The concept of a fully functioning society (FFS) is grounded on principles of community agency that are enacted through discursive substance and infrastructural place, the arenas of organizational operations and emergent discourse that enlighten decision making to align interests. Agency is the capacity to act in ways that serve to achieve, to accomplish. An FFS assumes that humans are inherently propositional and narrative in their enactment of societies as shared interests. It is achieved through shared governance whereby all individuals and organizations achieve individual agency through collective agency based on emergent‐discourse‐based power sharing, rather than by limiting emphasis to the agency of organizations. This paradigm shifts the focus from one based on individuals serving organizations to one that challenges organizations to serve the community. Collective agency presumes comanaging risk, uncertainty, and conflict.
Managing perceived intractable problems—seemingly irrevocable, difficult-to-solve, often values-driven conflicts—is a regular occurrence for public relations practitioners. Yet, understanding and managing such problems is often outside of the bounds of public relations theories aimed primarily at building consensus. This paper builds on existing conflict-centered literature by carving out a place for dissensus-oriented or agonistic public relations theories and practices. Through interviews with 41 public relations practitioners facing perceived intractable scenarios and the integration of dissensual and agonistic perspectives of Lyotard (1984), Rancière (2010), and others, the paper provides evidence of these approaches in everyday practice. Finally, it offers a framework for social issue engagement that orients agonistic and dissensus-minded professional practices alongside consensus approaches.
This conceptual paper introduces the concept of civic listening to augment organizational listening theory and practice. Drawing from critical theorists Arendt and Mouffe, it centers pluralism, agonism, deliberation, and reflection as central to listening and delineates the functions and values of civic listening to add to existing architectures. In doing so it provides additional guidance to help organizations (1) listen for what might be challenging for leaders to hear, (2) ensure values of deliberation and pluralism are enacted in listening contexts, and (3) help better triangulate organizational awareness among a diverse constellation of other organizations and stakeholders. Building on organizational listening scholarship that addresses the potential for the concept’s contributions to democratic society, this new perspective points toward deeper, more nuanced, and more equitable organizational engagement in civic discourse and firmer ground for contentious issue involvement. It introduces five critical values within an architecture of civic listening to guide practice: “other” orientation, pluralistic engagement, harmony over consensus, reflective processes, and social problem-solving focus.
Although forced migration has always occurred throughout history, it has increased significantly recently. The largest increase took place between 2012 and 2015 and was largely driven by conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Central African and East African countries (the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2021). Worldwide, forcibly displaced people are, however, nowadays confronted with hostility, xenophobia and the increasing popularity of extreme right-wing political parties (Frelick, 2007; Freedman, 2015). Furthermore, in recent decades, several states have tightened their asylum policies and/or become more reluctant to cooperate with refugee organizations (Johnson, 2011; Freedman, 2015). Since 2015, the theme of forced migration has been ubiquitous in (often polarized, overlapping and interacting) public, media and political debates (Hellman & Lerkkanen, 2019).
Within such contexts, UNHCR, which is mandated to lead and coordinate refugee protection worldwide (Jones, 2013), and other international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) play key roles as providers of assistance and/or protection to forcibly displaced people (Betts et al., 2012). However, through public communication, they also try to inform, raise awareness and set news media, public, political and donor agendas. Therefore, they provide diverse communication content to news media and increasingly communicate directly with citizens via social media and websites (Atkin & Rice, 2013). Hence, these organizations can significantly influence how the general public perceives forcibly displaced people and related displacement crises (Chouliaraki, 2012a) and consequently can have broader policy and societal consequences. Nevertheless, few studies have examined how they attempt to influence public, media and political agendas, and even less studies have analysed the underlying reasons behind the use of their discursive strategies. While most research has analysed the news-making activities of humanitarian organizations, and broader changing journalism-NGO relationships in evolving news and humanitarian ecologies (e.g., Ongenaert & Joye, 2016; Powers, 2018; Van Leuven & Joye, 2014), fewer studies specifically investigated refugee organizations. Second, most research centres on agenda-setting (e.g., McCombs & Valenzuela, 2021) and, to lesser extents, stakeholders’ efforts to influence about which subjects news media, citizens or other stakeholders should think (cf. first-level agenda-building) (Kim & Kiousis, 2012). However, to our knowledge, only a few studies, have thoroughly explored refugee organizations’ second-level agenda-building strategies which attempt to influence how stakeholders perceive certain subjects (Kim & Kiousis, 2012). Further, they mainly textually focus on one organization, media genre, year, and/or crisis, lacking essential explanatory comparative, production, and/or societal perspectives.
Therefore, adopting a mixed-methods research design, this research project analysed refugee organizations’ public communication strategies from multiple perspectives. More specifically, we examined various relevant international refugee organizations’ public communication strategies regarding the recent Syrian and Central African crises. Hence, the central research objective of this project is to investigate the conceptual, textual, production and societal dimensions and their interactions involved in international refugee organizations’ public communication strategies. This overarching objective is operationalized through three more specific, interrelated sub-objectives, corresponding to three components and adopting a source-to-end product perspective.
First, we examined the conceptual dimension of international refugee organizations’ public communication strategies (component 1). How can the public communication of international refugee organizations be conceptualized? For this purpose, we conducted an extensive literature review.
Second, we studied the textual dimension of international refugee organizations’ public communication strategies (component 2). Which discursive strategies do international refugee organizations mainly use (cf. how, who, what)? Acknowledging current trends and gaps within the literature, this sub-objective can be further divided into three more specific objectives:
1. How are forcibly displaced people mainly (not) represented and discussed in international refugee organizations’ public communication? In other words, which representation and argumentation strategies do the international refugee organizations use?
For this purpose, we conducted two empirical studies. First, acknowledging potential organizational differences, we applied a comparative-synchronic (Carvalho, 2008) critical discourse analysis (CDA) according to Fairclough’s (1992, 1995) CDA model on the international press releases (N=122) of UNHCR and two INGOs, de ‘Danish Refugee Council’ (DRC) and de ‘International Rescue Committee’ regarding the Syrian crisis (2014-2015). Additionally, we conducted semi-structured expert interviews (N=6) with press and regional officers at these organizations to yield additional empirical material about the underlying production and societal contexts. Second, recognizing potential media genre and crisis differences, we applied a comparative-synchronic multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) (Machin & Mayr, 2012), again following Fairclough’s (1992, 1995) CDA model, on UNHCR’s international press releases (N=28), news stories (N=233), and related photos (N=462) and videos (N=50) of the key year 2015.
2. Who is mainly (not) represented and given a voice in international refugee organizations’ public communication?
3. What is mainly (not) represented and discussed in international refugee organizations’ public communication? Which key characteristics (e.g., organizations, crises, media genres, years) and themes do international refugee organizations represent?
To meet these specific objectives and acknowledging organizational, media, crisis and temporal differences, we applied a comparative, longitudinal, intersectional quantitative content analysis (Neuendorf, 2017; Riffe et al., 2019) on the press releases and news stories (N=1244) about the recent Syrian and Central African crises (2015-2018) of UNHCR, and two INGOs, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE).
Third, we focused on the production and societal dimensions (component 3). Central to the corresponding component are the production, political, economic and socio-cultural contexts, forces and motivations behind the public communication strategies. How do the underlying production, political, economic and socio-cultural contexts, forces and motivations explain the discursive strategies of international refugee organizations (cf. why)? Likewise, this sub-objective can be further divided into three more specific objectives that correspond with the specific textual objectives:
1. How can we explain how forcibly displaced people are mainly (not) represented and discussed in international refugee organizations’ public communication?
2. How can we explain who is mainly (not) represented and given a voice in international refugee organizations’ public communication?
3. How can we explain what is mainly (not) represented and discussed in international refugee organizations’ public communication?
Therefore, we conducted a three-week office ethnography at NRC’s main press and communication department, semi-structured expert interviews with press and communication officers of NRC (N=10), and a document analysis of the key communication policy documents of NRC. We thereby focused each time on the production and societal contexts of NRC’s public communication regarding the recent Syrian and Central African crises.
In general, we found diverse, often mixed results that nuance, extend and sometimes contradict the existing literature on the public communication of refugee organizations and, more generally, humanitarian communication, and frequently interact with and explain each other. For reasons of relevance, focus and space, we discuss below interactions between different dimensions, as evidenced within one or more studies. The literature review indicated that in recent decades the social and scientific relevance of research on strategic and non-profit communication in general and on refugee organizations’ public communication particularly have increased. Nevertheless, these fields remain underdeveloped and are mostly text-focused, while the production and reception dimensions are barely explored. Remarkably, however, little or no research has been conducted from an organizational communication perspective, although this study demonstrates that the subject can be adequately embedded in and examined from the fields of strategic, non-profit and public communication. Specifically, our dissertation highlights the relevance of the holistic Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO) perspective. This perspective argues that communication is not just an activity that occurs within or between organizations, but forms the constitutive process of organization (Putnam & Nicotera, 2010). Further, strongly influenced by the understandings of Oliveira (2017), Atkin and Rice (2013), and Macnamara (2016), we define refugee organizations’ public communication as the practice of organized and systematic symbolic social action (diversified communication disseminated through a variety of channels and activities) within the public sphere to reach set goals, co-create the refugee organization, perform civic relations and fulfil its mission by groups of people that pursue the (perceived) common good for forced migration. Finally, our conceptual study argues that future research can benefit by adopting multi-perspective, practice-oriented, multi-methodological, comparative and/or interdisciplinary approaches to which we respond in our empirical studies.
Regarding the ‘how’ and related ‘why’ dimensions, the critical discourse analysis shows that the observed organisations to varying extents dehumanize forcibly displaced people and subordinate them to the ‘Western Self’ and national state interests in their press releases. Acknowledging organizational and media genre differences, these power inequalities can be explained by the use of various discursive strategies, as well as the broader production and social contexts. The findings demonstrate that forcibly displaced people are often portrayed as a homogenous and suffering collective, confirming the dominance of the regime of pity’s traditional ‘negative’ representational strategies (Bettini, 2013; Chouliaraki, 2012a; Johnson, 2011). However, unlike existing fragmented research, this analysis also found evidence of the use of other discursive strategies and explored the production process and the social context. The aforementioned depersonalising humanitarian discourse can be considered to be the product of the specific features of the press releases. The importance of news media attention and commercial reasons are other explanatory factors. In addition, the study found articulations of a simultaneously existing post-humanitarian discourse. The interviews revealed that the humanitarian sector has evolved from a non-economic to a market-oriented sphere within which private choice and self-expression are central. One can relate this post-humanitarian discourse to the regime of irony and consider it as an expression of neoliberalism (Chouliaraki, 2012a). While post-humanitarian discourses respond to the needs for personal development and self-expression, the oft-deployed cross-issue persuasion strategy responds to state interests and reflects political realism (Grieco, 1999). Both strategies are self-directed and reduce forcibly displaced people principally to secondary figures.
Similarly, the comparative-synchronic multimodal critical discourse analysis reveals that UNHCR primarily represents forcibly displaced people in its press releases and, to lesser extents, in its news as generic, anonymized, passive, victimized, deprived, and/or voiceless masses, reproducing humanitarian saviour logics and hierarchies of deservingness. However, stories, photos, and videos frequently combine these representations with portrayals of empowered individual doers, speakers, and/or thinkers. Both representation strategies can be partially explained by news logics such as genre characteristics, news media conventions, and representations, and by respectively political and private sector discourses and agenda-building opportunities, and related organizational goals, as the expert interviews show. Furthermore, we identified several argumentation methods, particularly in textual communication genres. UNHCR mainly attempts to stimulate pity-based solidarity but also voices various neoliberal post-humanitarian (mainly Western) Self-oriented solidarity discourses. Refining cross-issue persuasion, we discovered that UNHCR links protection to states’ (perceived) interests in various issue areas but also in various principles and values, and propose the more appropriate concept of ‘cross-interest persuasion’. Rather than just to other (perceived) important issue areas, refugee organizations link contributions to protection to the interests of states in general. Moreover, the term emphasizes the political realist nature of the pragmatic argumentation strategy. Finally, we consider these discursive strategies as reflections and reproductions of, and responses to dominant migration management paradigms and the increasingly neoliberalized and political realist international refugee regime.
Concerning the textual ‘who’, ‘what’ and connected ‘why’ dimensions, the comparative, longitudinal and intersectional quantitative content analysis shows a mixed picture of what and who are (not) represented, involving interorganizational commonalities and differences. First, regarding ‘what’, the refugee organizations predominantly communicated in 2015 and 2016 about forcibly displaced people involved in the Syrian crisis, because of intertwined organizational, societal and/or financial reasons and mainstream media logics. More specifically, it is far more difficult for international refugee organizations to obtain media attention for the Central African crisis than the Syrian crisis, because of various factors such as the nature, magnitude, implications, mediatization and comprehensibility of the conflicts, and geographic and cultural proximity. As there is more media attention on Syria, international refugee organizations generally obtain also more resources specifically intended for the Syrian crisis, including for press and communication efforts. This leads on its turn to even more attention for this crisis, creating a ‘Vicious Neglected Crisis Circle (VNCC) effect’. Organizational factors generally reinforce this effect, while security and political factors in the case of communication about Syria limit it.
Regarding ‘who’, we observed that primarily forcibly displaced people and refugee organizations obtain voices in het public communication about the investigated forcibly displaced people, refining earlier studies. Additionally, examining several (largely unexplored) sociodemographics, this study finds that individualized forcibly displaced people are represented in significantly unbalanced manners (e.g., mainly along age, geographical location, legal status, current country and continent, nationality, life stance, sexual orientation, family situation, marital status and former and current profession). This can be explained by a myriad of pragmatic, humanitarian, societal, organizational, ethical/personal, practical, security, political and/or narrative reasons. Shaped by production and societal contexts, humanitarian communication reproduces and reflects quantitative mediated hierarchies of suffering, both between (cf. what) and within (who) crises. In general, we can conclude that various pragmatic and contextual factors explain ‘how’, ‘who’ and ‘what’ are represented. Finally, we argue that well-balanced humanitarian communication is essential for societal and strategic reasons (e.g., negative long-term implications of imbalanced humanitarian imagery and sensational public communication, branding opportunities as reliable, accountable ‘authorised knowers’).
This paper focuses on understanding the different attitudes exhibited by secondary school students in Lagos state and their influence on their academic performance. The survey design method was adopted using an online google questionnaire circulated via social media platform (WhatsApp) to elicit secondary school students’ responses. 224 responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics for the presentation of results. Findings showed that secondary school students pay less attention to their studies, especially at the beginning of the new term. They have less interest in the daily schedule for study, which implies that students only read for the sole purpose of passing an exam and not for knowledge acquisition; hence, the reason for poor performance in their academics with implications on the SDGs’ quality education goal. Based on the findings, certain policy recommendations that will motivate students and encourage positive attitude toward their studies, leading to academic success were made.
Purpose:
This study aims to broaden the understanding of activist public relations in developing contexts. The power of formal laws and policies in developing contexts diminishes by traditional norms and authorities, and therefore, a great deal of activist public relations efforts is devoted to controlling destructive norms and informal authorities. Activist public relations literature often assumes powerful formal institutions that are capable to control behaviors. The authors challenge this assumption by exploring activist public relations against gender-based violence (GV) in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach:
This study took an interpretative and social constructionist approach to examine public relations practices of two GV activist organizations in Bangladesh. The data were collected through observation, interviews and document analysis of four campaigns. The data were coded in NVivo.
Findings :
The data show that the activist organizations used public relations campaigns for informal institutional work. The campaigns included educating various publics and storytelling to build supporting identities, norms and networks to address GV in Bangladesh.
Research limitations/implications:
The study has been limited to advocacy campaign of the non-governmental organizations.
Practical implications:
The knowledge from this study can be applied to the social development sectors where public relations is used to activate activism. In addition, the public relations practitioners and scholars can find how activists public relations is emerging in developing context.
Originality/value:
The findings suggest that activist public relations in developing contexts carry out institutional work and create informal institutions to compensate for the formal institutional voids. In addition, this paper highlights the role of public relations in institutional work, to create and maintain contributory institutions or disrupt disturbing institutions.
Full text available at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/42621/
As conceptual models of the public sphere have moved toward multi-plicity, "counterpublic" has emerged as a critical term to signify that some publics develop not simply as one among a constellation of discursive entities, but as explicitly articulated alternatives to wider publics that exclude the interests of potential participants. This essay attempts to forestall potential reductionism in future counterpublic theory by considering through 3 "ominous examples" how the "counter" in counterpublics may be reduced to persons, places, or topics. Instead, this essay seeks to orient critical attention to the discursive quality of counterpublics. It argues that the ways in which counterpublics set themselves against wider publics may be most productively explored by attending to the recognition and articulation of exclusion through alternative discourse norms and practices.
Der Beitrag fokussiert strategische Organisationskommunikation unter den Bedingungen einer vernetzten Öffentlichkeit. Wie wirkt sich der neue Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit auf die strategische Organisationskommunikation aus? In welcher Form trägt strategische Organisationskommunikation selbst zur Transformation der Öffentlichkeit bei? Öffentlichkeits- und netzwerktheoretische Überlegungen zusammenführend wird das Modell einer Netzwerköffentlichkeit entwickelt. Auf der Grundlage dieses Modells werden Veränderungen der strategischen Organisationskommunikation diskutiert und neue Forschungsfragen aufgeworfen. Damit leistet der Artikel einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Fundierung der strategischen Organisationskommunikation aus dem Blickwinkel der Öffentlichkeitsforschung.
Dana Oancea, Thomas Achelis This article presents the results of the latest country-to-country study on media transparency, the data for which were collected in Romania. This research investigated media non-transparency within the larger framework offered by Kruckeberg and Tsetsura (2003), and Tsetsura (2005a, b). The goal of the study was to examine problems of media non-transparency by examining media practices in Romania. Specifically, the study explored perceptions and opinions of Romanian media professionals (journalists and public relations practitioners) about non-transparent media practices that occur in a variety of Romanian media outlets. The article provides an overview of the media environment in Romania, describing the development of journalism and public relations professions in this former Soviet bloc country. Then, it reports the results of the survey conducted among Romanian media professionals on the issues of media influences, direct and indirect payments, and media credibility. Overall, 66 journalists and 127 public relations practitioners took part in this study. Participation of Romanian media professionals in the current research was facilitated by the Forum for International Communication, Center for Independent Journalism, and Association of Local Editors of Romania. The study showed that corporate publisher/owners and political affiliation of a media outlet are the biggest influences on Romanian media, as perceived by the surveyed media professionals. Similar to previous investigations (Tsetsura & Grynko, 2009; Klyueva, 2008; Tsetsura, 2005b; Tsetsura & Zuo, 2009), the study found that different types of non-transparent practices regularly occur in Romanian media. In many cases, journalists and public relations practitioners agreed on the frequency of occurrence of these practices. Romanian media professionals somewhat often consider acceptance of direct and direct payments as a normal practice. At the same time, Romanian media professionals do not regard this practice as acceptable.
All organizations have relationships with their environments that can be described as their social capital. The development of this social capital is a crucial public relations activity. Taking a cue from the late French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, social capital can also be seen as one of the several resources used to obtain or maintain positions of power. Bourdieu, however, was quite vague about how social capital should be analyzed and did not write about organizations per se. Accordingly, I will discuss and elaborate on the social capital concept by drawing from the work of Nan Lin (2002).
Conventional wisdom asserts that democracies require a strong civil society and high levels of interpersonal trust. Neither of these attributes seems to characterize contemporary Russia. This article challenges this conventional wisdom, finding Russian culture characterized by broad, porous, and politically relevant interpersonal networks. Perhaps in response to the totalitarianism of the past, Russians have developed extensive social networks with high levels of political capacity. These social networks are important means for the diffusion of democratic ideas in Russia. For instance, those embedded in extensive social networks are more likely to support key democratic institutions and processes. My analysis also reveals that interpersonal trust actually has little to do with attitudes toward democratic institutions and processes. I conclude by arguing that Russians are not atomized and socially isolated, and that aspect of Russian political culture has important consequences for the future of democracy in Russia.
Surveys suggest an erosion of trust in government, among individuals, and between groups. Although these trends are often thought to be bad for democracy, the relationship between democracy and trust is paradoxical. Trust can develop where interests converge, but in politics interests conflict. Democracy recognizes that politics does not provide a natural terrain for robust trust relations, and so includes a healthy distrust of the interests of others, especially the powerful. Democratic systems institutionalize distrust by providing many opportunities for citizens to oversee those empowered with the public trust. At the same time, trust is a generic social building block of collective action, and for this reason alone democracy cannot do without trust. At a minimum, democratic institutions depend on a trust among citizens sufficient for representation, resistance, and alternative forms of governance. Bringing together social science and political theory, this book provides a valuable exploration of these central issues.
As the American economy surged in the 1990s, economic sociology made great strides as well. Economists and sociologists worked across disciplinary boundaries to study the booming market as both a product and a producer of culture, tracing the correlations they saw between economic and social phenomena. In the process, they debated the methodological issues that arose from their interdisciplinary perspectives. The New Economic Sociology provides an overview of these debates and assesses the state of the burgeoning discipline. The contributors summarize economic sociology's accomplishments to date, identifying key theoretical problems and opportunities, and formulating strategies for future research in the field. The book opens with an introduction to the main debates and conceptual approaches in economic sociology. Contributor Neil Fligstein suggests that the current resurgence of interest in economic sociology is due to the way it brings together many sociological subdisciplines including the study of markets, households, labor markets, stratification, networks, and culture. Other contributors examine the role of economic phenomena from a network perspective. Ron Burt, for example, demonstrates how social relationships affect competitive dynamics in the marketplace. A third set of chapters addresses the role of gender in economic sociology. In her chapter, Barbara Reskin rethinks conventional notions about discrimination and points out that the law only covers one type of discrimination, while in recent years social scientists have uncovered other forms of hidden discrimination, which must be addressed as well. The New Economic Sociology also addresses the problem of economic development and change from a sociological perspective. Alejandro Portes and Margarita Mooney elaborate on one of the key emerging concepts in economic sociology, arguing that social capital-as an attribute of communities and regions-can contribute to economic and social well-being by fostering collaboration and entrepreneurship. The contributors concur that economic action must be interpreted through the cultural understandings that lend it stability and meaning. By rendering these often complex debates accessible, The New Economic Sociology makes a significant contribution to this still rapidly developing field, and provides a useful guide for future avenues of research.
This article examines the nature and relevance of Habermas' theory of the public sphere in the present European situation. The paper notes that the current debate in the English-speaking world is not matched by a similar discussion in Germany. This is partly because Habermas' classic text was first published in Germany in 1962, and the considerable discussion it provoked ran out of steam some years ago. The Anglo-Saxon debate differs from its German predecessor in two important ways. In the first place, the choice of the phrase public sphere as a translation for the original Offentlichkeit introduced issues into the English discussion, notably the spatial metaphor, that were absent from the German original. Secondly, in the German-speaking world there has been a much longer and broader discussion of Offentlichkeit, lasting for more than two centuries, and concentrating particularly on literary and aesthetic issues. Very far from appearing as a startlingly original insight, as it did in the English-speaking world, Habermas' work was understood in Germany as a small part of this more general tradition.
This article examines the nature and relevance of Habermas' theory of the public sphere in the present European situation. The paper notes that the current debate in the English-speaking world is not matched by a similar discussion in Germany. This is partly because Habermas' classic text was first published in Germany in 1962, and the considerable discussion it provoked ran out of steam some years ago. The Anglo-Saxon debate differs from its German predecessor in two important ways. In the first place, the choice of the phrase public sphere as a translation for the original Öffentlichkeit introduced issues into the English discussion, notably the spatial metaphor, that were absent from the German original. Secondly, in the German-speaking world there has been a much longer and broader discussion of Öffentlichkeit, lasting for more than two centuries, and concentrating particularly on literary and aesthetic issues. Very far from appearing as a startlingly original insight, as it did in the English-speaking world, Habermas' work was understood in Germany as a small part of this more general tradition.
Series Blurb Oxford Readings in Feminism provide accessible, one-volume guides to the very best in contemporary feminist thinking, assessing its impact and importance in key areas of study. Collected together by scholars of outstanding reputation in their field, the articles chosen represent the most important work on feminist issues, and concise, lively introductions to each volume crystallize the main line of debate in the field. The categories of public and private have been at the centre of feminist theory for the past three decades. Focusing on the gendered relations of sexuality and the body, family life and democratic citizenship, feminists have redirected public debate on questions of privacy and publicity. They have challenged leading theories of the public sphere, adding immeasurably to the historical and cross-cultural understanding of public and private life, from the rise of liberal and democratic institutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to today's media-saturated public sphere. This volume presents the results of this multi-disciplinary feminist exploration. Contributors demonstrate the significance of the public/private distinction in feminist theory, its articulation in the modern and late modern public sphere, and its impact on identity politics within feminism in recent years. Feminism, the Public and the Private offers an essential perspective on feminist theory for students and teachers of women's and gender studies, cultural studies, history, political theory, geography and sociology.
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Voluntary association membership varies dramatically among nations, by both the number and the type of associations that people join. Two distinctions account for much of this variation: (1) the distinction between statist versus nonstatist (sometimes called "liberal") societies, and (2) the distinction between corporate versus noncorporate societies. These two dimensions summarize historically evolved differences in state structure, political institutions, and culture of nations that channel, legitimate (or deligitimate), and encourage (or discourage) various types of associational activity. Membership in associations in 32 countries is examined using data from the 1991 World Values Survey; hierarchical models estimate the effects of individual-level and country-level factors on individual association membership. Results show that statism constraints individual associational activity of all types, particularly in "new" social movement associations. Corporateness positively affects membership, particularly for "old" social movements. Finally, temporal trends indicate some convergence toward Anglo-American patterns of association.
This paper describes relationship building among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a civil-society effort. It presents the results of an interorganizational network analysis of 17 Croatian civil society organizations that participated in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign. The research analyzes network relationships including density, structural holes, and centrality, considering the nature of these relationships as a function of choice of communication channels and strength of ties. The results of this study describe the communication roles of various organizations during the transformation from a totalitarian state to a fledgling civil society.
In these turbulent times, development communication is a growing and important area of both academic research and practice. This article explores the role of strategic communication channels in the development of civil society in Bosnia. This case study reports the results of a survey that asked Bosnians about their levels of trust in government officials, alternative media, and state-controlled media outlets. The findings suggest that shortly after the war Bosnians had medium levels of trust in their communication channels, and when it comes to obtaining important information, it appears that alternative media were considered more trustworthy than either the state media or local government officials. Finally, political affiliation and ethnicity affect trust in communication channels in complex ways.
This article examines the importance of the public sphere theory to civil society. It explains that theories of the public sphere developed alongside both the modern state with its powerful administrative apparatus and the modern capitalist economy with its equally powerful capacity to expand wealth and also inequalities and intensify exploitation of nature and people. It argues that the value of a public sphere rooted in civil society rests on the claims that there are matters of concern important to all citizens and to the organization of their lives together and that states and other powerful organizations might be organized to serve the collective interests of ordinary people rather than state power as such.
The publics of different societies are characterized by durable cultural orientations that have major political and economic consequences. Throughout the period from 1973 to 1987, given nationalities consistently showed relative high or low levels of a “civic culture”—a coherent syndrome of personal life satisfaction, political satisfaction, interpersonal trust and support for the existing social order. Those societies that rank high on this syndrome are much likelier to be stable democracies than those that rank low. Economic development and cultural change are linked in a complex pattern of reciprocal influence. Originally, Protestantism may have facilitated the rise of capitalism, leading to economic development, which in turn favored the emergence of the civic culture. But in those countries that attained high levels of prosperity, there eventually emerged postmaterialist values that tended to neutralize the emphasis on economic accumulation that earlier characterized Protestant societies.
When the focus is on meaning making, language, rhetorical argument, and persuasion, there is enormous potential to see how public relations theory and practice in external organizational rhetoric can serve community interests—or not. Rhetoric (as the discourse) and public relations (as the enactment of that discourse) are essential to building and sustaining a society as a good place to live because they create various types of social capital. This article describes the various relationships among international and indigenous NGOs, business organizations, and community activists in facilitating (and, at times, frustrating) dialogue in Jordan. It offers an example of how social capital may be created when rhetors using public relations advocate in ways that enhance the capacity of local governance and make their community a better place to live.
Many social scientists have predicted that one inevitable consequence of modernization is the unlimited growth of individualism, which poses serious threats to the organic unity of society. Others have argued that autonomy and independence are necessary conditions for the development of interpersonal cooperation and social solidarity. We reanalyzed available data on the relationship between individualism-collectivism and social capital within one country (the United States) and across 42 countries. In America, the states with a high level of social capital (higher degree of civic engagement in political activity, where people spend more time with their friends and believe that most people can be trusted) were found to be more individualistic. A correspondingly strong association between individualism and social capital was observed in the comparison of different countries. These results support Durkheim’s view that whenindividualsbecomemoreautonomous and seemingly liberated from social bonds, they actually become even more dependent on society.
This article extends Heath's (2006) concept of fully functioning society theory (FFS) and argues that public relations can be used as a force to enhance collective social capital in communities. To serve this purpose, however, the effectiveness of an organization to serve its external publics is often dependent on the status and relationships the public relations function has developed within the organization. This paper provides a network analysis of a government agency in Jordan that illustrates the relationship between internal organizational social capital and the potential problems for establishing external relationships with publics. Implications for public relations research methods and theory are also discussed.
This article discusses the research of economics Nobelist Elinor Ostrom. It argues her analysis of long term community co-operation contains important insights for public relations, especially in the area of community engagement. Informed by Ostrom's focus on common pool resource management, the article highlights the importance of organisations adopting an attitude of mutuality to the external stakeholder environment. It also associates public relations practice with the promotion of a social commons. It then examines Ostrom's insights on the role that face-to-face communication plays in the generation of social capital and the norms of behaviour that promote co-operation. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the practice of public relations in organisations and suggests areas for further research.
A postmodern analysis of public relations offers a new critical approach to public relations theory and practice and suggests that public relations should be freed from its narrow definition as organizational communication management. Public relations can contribute to grassroots democracy through activism and radical politics. Postmodern public relations practitioners will be activists within organizations. Postmodernism further proposes that dissensus and dissymmetry offer more appropriate approaches to current public relations practices than seeking consensus and symmetry. Multidimensional research approaches will contribute to the liberatory possibilities of public relations and will help create a postmodern condition in the field.
This article aims to draw attention to the rising influence of professional public relations on the process of national news production in Britain and to discuss how this influence is affecting existing media-source relations. It notes that a wide range of organizations have begun adopting public relations as a means of achieving particular goals through media coverage. At the same time media institutions, operating under tighter editorial budgets, have become more dependent on information supplied by external sources. The two trends have resulted in the sudden growth of the professional public relations sector and changes to existing patterns of source access. How such trends are affecting various sources in their attempts to gain and manage media access is the debate that therefore takes up most of this piece. Is public relations simply another means by which institutional and corporate organizations are managing to secure access advantages, or is it providing new means whereby non-official sources can gain media access which was hitherto denied them?
The public sphere is the space of communication of ideas and projects that emerge from society and are addressed to the decision makers in the institutions of society. The global civil society is the organized expression of the values and interests of society. The relationships between government and civil society and their interaction via the public sphere define the polity of society. The process of globalization has shifted the debate from the national domain to the global debate, prompting the emergence of a global civil society and of ad hoc forms of global governance. Accordingly, the public sphere as the space of debate on public affairs has also shifted from the national to the global and is increasingly constructed around global communication networks. Public diplomacy, as the diplomacy of the public, not of the government, intervenes in this global public sphere, laying the ground for traditional forms of diplomacy to act beyond the strict negotiation of power relationships by building on shared cultural meaning, the essence of communication.
Current democratic theory and recent international policy initiatives reveal an intense interest in the relationship between social capital and democracy. This interest is the most recent variant of a long theoretical tradition positing that a vigorous associational life is beneficial for the creation and maintenance of democracy. Despite the popularity of this view, little quantitative empirical evidence exists to support the relationship. Here, the relationship between social capital and democracy is tested using data from a large, quantitative, cross-national study. Two additional tests are introduced. First, the plausible reciprocal effect-from democracy to social capital-is included in models. Second, the potentially negative impact of some associations on democracy is considered. Using data from the World Values Survey and the Union of International Associations in a cross-lagged panel design, results show that social capital affects democracy and that democracy affects social capital. Additional tests demonstrate that associations that are connected to the larger community have a positive effect on democracy, while isolated associations have a negative effect. Theory relating social capital to democracy is drawn from the literature on civil society, political culture, and social movements.
The ultimate aim of this article is to help develop a systematic ethical framework for advocacy in public relations. It reviews selected literature on public relations, professional ethics, advocacy, rhetoric, and persuasion to propose 10 criteria for ethically desirable advocacy. It is argued that these criteria are the starting point for developing an ethic of advocacy in public relations. Although the literature review is not exhaustive, it is sufficient to show that there are arguments to be made in favor of the persuasive-advocacy function in public relations. It also provides sufficient background from which to draw a set of ethical parameters for advocacy. The literature forms the basis of a 2-part inquiry into: (a) whether persuasion is a legitimate public relations function; and, (b) whether it can be performed to high ethical standards. A model for ethically desirable advocacy is proposed as one means for answering these 2 questions in the affirmative.
Modern planners, influenced by recent developments in “strategic management,” know that affirmative action about matters of public policy can be a key to organizational prosperity. The authors of this article explores three major topics: first, basic misunderstandings about issue management and policy influence; second, the process which can be called the management of an issue's “status”; and third, the presentation of a “catalytic” model of issue management and policy influence.
Mr. Crable is associate professor of communication and Mr. Vibbert is assistant professor of communication at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
