Pathways to Public Relations: Histories of Practice and Profession(Routledge New Directions in PR & Communication Research)

Over the centuries, scholars have studied how individuals, institutions and groups have used various rhetorical stances to persuade others to pay attention to, believe in, and adopt a course of action. The emergence of public relations as an identifiable and discrete occupation in the early 20th century led scholars to describe this new iteration of persuasion as a unique, more systematized, and technical form of wielding influence, resulting in an overemphasis on practice, frequently couched within an American historical context. This volume responds to such approaches by expanding the framework for understanding public relations history, investigating broad, conceptual questions concerning the ways in which public relations rose as a practice and a field within different cultures and countries at different times in history. With its unique cultural and contextual emphasis, Pathways to Public Relations shifts the paradigm of public relations history away from traditional methodologies and assumptions, and provides a new and unique entry point into this complicated arena.

Table of Contents:
Introduction - Realizing New Pathways to Public Relations History Part I: Public Relations History and Faith 1. The Strategic Heart: The Nearly Mutual Embrace of Religion and Public 2. State and Church as Public Relations History in Ireland, 1922-2011 3. The Public Relations and Artful Devotion of Hildegard Von Bingen 4. An Alternative View of Social Responsibility: The Ancient and Global Footprint of Caritas and Public Relations Part II: Public Relations History and Politics/Government 5. The Coercion of Consent: The Manipulative Potential of FBI Public Relations During the J. Edgar Hoover Era 6. Forgotten Roots of International Public Relations: Attempts of Germany, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to Influence the United States during World War I 7. Government is Different: A History of Public Relations in American Public Administration 8. Building Certainty in Uncertain Times: The Construction of Communication by Early Medieval Polities 9. I, Claudius the Idiot: Lessons to be Learned from Reputation Management in Ancient Rome 10. The Utilization of Public Relations to Avoid Imperialism During the Beginning of Thailand’s Transition to Modernization (1851-1868) Part III: Public Relations History and Reform 11. Between International and Domestic Public Relations: Cultural Diplomacy and Race in the 1949 ATMA "Round-the-World Tour" 12. Shell Oil as a Window into the Development of Public Relations in Nigeria: From Information Management to Social Accountability 13. The Intersection of Public Relations and Activism: A Multinational Look at Suffrage Movements 14. Ubuntu, Professionalism, Activism, and the Rise of Public Relations in Uganda 15. Sarah Josepha Hale, Editor/Advocate Part IV: Public Relations History and the Profession 16. The Historical Development of Public Relations in Turkey: The Rise of a Profession in Times of Social Transformation 17. An Agent of Change: Public Relations in Early-20th Century Australia 18. The "New Technique": Public Relations, Propaganda, and the American Public, 1920-1925 19. Arthur Page and the Professionalization of Public Relations 20. The Good Reason of Public Relations: PR News and the Selling of a Field 21. Defining Public in Public Relations: How the 1920s Debate over Public Opinion Influenced Early Philosophies of Public Relations

About the Author :
Burton St. John III is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Old Dominion University, USA. Margot Opdycke Lamme is an Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alabama, USA. Jacquie L’Etang is Chair of Public Relations and Applied Communications, Queen Margaret University, Scotland.

Review :
Pathways to Public Relations: Histories of Practice and Profession sets its scope broadly to examine what its authors document as the historic presence of public relations. It goes beyond the notion that one model defines the practice or that research should be limited only to practices that are defined specifically as public relations. Readers are left to decide those matters for themselves, given the abundant documentation and definition that the authors bring to bear on the matter. Pathways, in that regard, gives insights into a discourse practice that seems inherent in the human condition. Robert L. Heath, University of Houston, USA What more needs to be said about public relations? Well plenty, if you want to understand how it critically influences society. Pathways to Public Relations is an edited volume that is rich with fascinating new viewpoints and historical research. By revealing PR's often hidden and complex relationships with religion, civil society, government and corporations - and its own professional project - this book provides compelling evidence that PR's socio-cultural significance is 'only just beginning to surface'. Kristin Demetrious, Deakin University, Australia Pathways to Public Relations rips up the standard historical narrative of public relations and rids it of a narrow focus on corporations, professionalism and biographies of father figures. The result is a wildly diverse and fascinatingly rich volume. Oyvind Ihlen, University of Oslo, Norway Pathways to Public Relations: Histories of practice and profession' builds on the success of the International History of Public Relations Conference and offers a broad range of recent scholarship from around the world. It is a very welcome scholarly addition to the expanding field of public relations history. Tom Watson, Bournemouth University, UK