1st Edition
The Public Relations of Everything The Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Dramatic History of an Idea
The public relations of "everything" takes the radical position that public relations is a profoundly different creature than a generation of its scholars and teachers have portrayed it. Today, it is clearly no longer limited, if it ever has been, to the management of communication in and between organizations. Rather, it has become an activity engaged in by everyone, and for the most basic human reasons: as an act of self-creation, self-expression, and self-protection. The book challenges both popular dismissals and ill-informed repudiations of public relations, as well as academic and classroom misconceptions.
In the age of digitization and social media, everyone with a smart phone, Twitter and Facebook accounts, and the will and skill to use them, is in the media. The PR of everything – the ubiquitousness of public relations – takes a perspective that is less concerned with ideas of communication and information than with experience and drama, a way of looking at public relations inside out, upside down and from a micro rather than a macro level.
Based on a combination of the research of PR practice and critical-thinking analysis of theory, and founded in the author’s extensive corporate experience, this book will be invaluable reading for scholars and practitioners alike in Public Relations, Communications and Social Media.
Preface: Breaking Ranks Part I: The Theater of Public Relations 1. Principles of PRe 2. Crisis 3. Face 4. Actors 5. History Part Two: The Humanities of Public Relations 6. Voices 7. Persuasion 8 Politics 9. Ambiguities 10. Humanities Epilogue: The Gist of Everything
Biography
Robert E. Brown, former speechwriter for two Fortune 500 companies, is Professor of Communications at Salem State University, instructor at Harvard University Extension School, a member of the editorial boards of Public Relations Review and Public Relations Inquiry and a published poet.
'This is a wise book that breaks with the dominant paradigms and rethinks public relations in interdisciplinary, philosophical, and humanistic terms, bringing a new definition to a field that has long been seeking to define itself. Brown is a thinker who has thought long and hard about the field and has enriched this book with his wide reading and long professional experience.' - Ray Hiebert, Editor, Public Relations Review, USA
'In PRe, Rob Brown reconceptualises public relations as a humanity, shifting the field from the quantitatively distinct to the distinctly human: ambiguous, historical, interdisciplinary, and vocal. An accomplished scholar, he mines his own extensive experiences in public relations, along with works from academics, practitioners, pioneers, and poets, to present a fascinating, timely, and thought-provoking work.' - Margot Opdycke Lamme, Associate Professor, University of Alabama, USA.
'Robert Brown deftly flips long-held conventions about public relations as management of organizational communication. From history, theory and ethics to crisis communication, Brown argues that the study of public relations should expand to include "everyday experience of individuals" as much as sociology, anthropology, politics and more. Written with dexterity, this compelling book will get readers thinking about public relations in new and refreshing ways.' - Amiso M. George, Associate professor of Strategic Communication, Texas Christian University, USA
'This book is the essence of convergence in Public Relations: the convergence of means, the convergence of perspectives and the convergence of disciplines that merge into one in this field. With this book, Robert Brown, will become a classic not only for the content but also for the ability of making poetry from the academic literature.' - Enric Ordeix, Professor, Ramon Llull University<
