Public Relations Theory III: In the Age of Publics

This important book chronicles, responds to, and advances the leading theories in the public relations discipline.

Taking up the work begun by the books Public Relations Theory and Public Relations Theory II, this volume offers completely original material reflecting public relations as practiced today. It features contributions by leading public relations researchers from around the world who write about new developments in the field. Important subjects include: a turn to more humanistic, social, dialogic, and cocreational perspectives on public relations; changes in the capacity and use of new information technologies; a greater emphasis on non-Western international and intercultural public relations that considers an increasingly politically polarized culture; and issues of ethics that look beyond how clients and the traditional mass media are treated and into much broader questions of voice, agency, race, identity, and the economic and political status of publics.

This book is a touchstone for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in public relations theory and a key reference for researchers.

Carl H. Botan is Emeritus Professor of Communication at George Mason University, USA.

Erich Sommerfeldt is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, USA.