Øyvind Ihlen is professor at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo and co-director of POLKOM - Centre for the Study of Political Communication. He has over 100 publications, including the award-winning edited Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility (2011, with Jennifer Bartlett and Steve May) and Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric (2018, with Robert L. Heath). Ihlen is past president of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA).

Magnus Fredriksson is associate professor in the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research focuses on strategic communication in general and strategic communication in public sector organizations in particular. His work has been published in European Journal of Communication, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Organization Studies, Public Administration, Public Relations Inquiry, Public Relations Review and elsewhere.

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

1. Introduction: Public Relations and Social Theory; Magnus Fredriksson & Øyvind Ihlen

SOCIAL CHANGES

2. On Weber: Legitimacy and Legitimation in Public Relations; Arild Wæraas

3. On Luhmann: Reframing Public Relations as Part of Society's Evolutionary Learning Processes; Susanne Holmstrøm

4. On Bauman: Power, Ethics and Social Hermeneutics; Magda Piezcka

5. On Beck: Public Relations and Quests for Responsibility; Magnus Fredriksson

6. On Latour: Actor-Networks, Modes of Existence and Public Relations; Piet Verhoeven

SOCIAL FORCES

7. On Bourdieu: Public Relations, Positions and Resources; Øyvind Ihlen

8. On Harrison White: Rethinking Relations in Public Relations; Peter Winkler & Stefan Wehmeier

9. On Meyer: Public Relations in a Context of World Society, Soft Actors and Rationalized De-coupling; Josef Pallas & Emilia Kvarnström

10. On Giddens: Interpreting Public Relations through Anthony Giddens's

Structuration and Late Modernity Theories; Jesper Falkheimer

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

11. On Putnam: Bowling Together - Applying Robert Putnam's Theories of Community and Social Capital to Public Relations; Vilma Luoma-aho

12. On Berger: If Peter Berger were doing Public Relations - A Social Constructionist Perspective on Crisis Communication; Mats Heide

13. On Boltanski: The Sociology of Critique and Public Relations; Lee Edwards

14. On Goffman: Researching Relations with Erving Goffman as Pathfinder; Catrin Johansson

15. On Habermas: Communication and Understanding - Key Concepts for Public Relations; Roland Burkart

POWER

16. On Marx: Capitalism and Public Relations; Kay Weaver

17. On Dewey: Public Relations and its Eclipse of the Public; Lana Rakow

18. On Foucault: Engaging with Foucault's Critical Theory and Methods; Judy Motion & Shirley Leitch

19. On Dorothy Smith: Public Relations and Feminist Theory at the Crossroads; Lana Rakow & Diana Iulia Nastasia

20. On Spivak: Theorizing Resistance in Public Relations; Mohan Jyoti Dutta

21. On Mouffe: Radical Pluralism and Public Relations; Scott Davidson & Judy Motion

22. Conclusions on the Compass, Context, Concepts, Concerns and Empirical Avenues for Public Relations; Øyvind Ihlen, Piet Verhoeven & Magnus Fredriksson

Author Bios