Privileging an activist vs. a corporate view of public relations history in the U.S

    Authors

    W. T. Coombs;S. J. Holladay

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Public Relat. Rev.

    Keywords

    Public relations history; Activism; Activists; Corporate-centric; INTERNET; Business; Communication

    Abstract

    This article elaborates on the argument that the history of U.S. public relations has been distorted by the emphasis on corporate functions of public relations. The dominant corporate-centric view of U.S. public relations history often claim that public relations developed as a response to activists who attempted to interfere with business operations. That myopic, corporate-centric view has perpetuated a negative view of public relations as merely a tool of "big business". In the past as well as the present, corporations have been learning from and co-opting activists' innovative public relations techniques. By alternatively grounding U.S. public relations history in the works of activists, we open possibilities for re-imagining the field and legitimizing activists' works as a positive, central component in public relations theory and research. We end by providing resources educators can utilize to teach a more balanced view of public relations history in the U.S. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Public Relations Review

    Volume

    38

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article; Proceedings Paper

    Language

    English

    First Page

    347

    Last Page

    353

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000306029200003

    ISSN

    0363-8111

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