Public Relations in an Postdisciplinary World : On the Impossibility of Establishing a Constitutive PR Theory within the Tribal Struggles of the Applied Communication Disciplines
(2023) p.247-266- Abstract
- This chapter explores public relations’ disciplinary troubles in gaining recognition and explores the academic discipline’s future role in an increasingly postdisciplinary world of higher education. We argue that public relations, like many other applied communication disciplines, did not evolve as an intellectually coherent project but as an institutionally and administratively defined “de facto discipline” that is grounded in its role as an educational feeder for practice. Our main argument is that the ongoing postdisciplinary rearrangement may benefit public relations by relieving the necessity to live up to disciplinary pretensions. The chapter offers an alternative way of defining public relations in terms of cultural or tribal... (More)
- This chapter explores public relations’ disciplinary troubles in gaining recognition and explores the academic discipline’s future role in an increasingly postdisciplinary world of higher education. We argue that public relations, like many other applied communication disciplines, did not evolve as an intellectually coherent project but as an institutionally and administratively defined “de facto discipline” that is grounded in its role as an educational feeder for practice. Our main argument is that the ongoing postdisciplinary rearrangement may benefit public relations by relieving the necessity to live up to disciplinary pretensions. The chapter offers an alternative way of defining public relations in terms of cultural or tribal affinities and concludes with three suggestions for the future of public relations theory. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/0293d950-38c4-499c-94ad-7559c4b1dec6
- author
- Nothhaft, Howard LU and Zerfass, Ansgar
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Public Relations Theory III : In the Age of Publics - In the Age of Publics
- editor
- Botan, Carl and Sommerfeldt, Erich
- pages
- 20 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85148192874
- ISBN
- 9781003141396
- 9780367693282
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003141396-17
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0293d950-38c4-499c-94ad-7559c4b1dec6
- date added to LUP
- 2023-02-16 12:46:20
- date last changed
- 2024-05-02 20:06:22
@inbook{0293d950-38c4-499c-94ad-7559c4b1dec6,
abstract = {{This chapter explores public relations’ disciplinary troubles in gaining recognition and explores the academic discipline’s future role in an increasingly postdisciplinary world of higher education. We argue that public relations, like many other applied communication disciplines, did not evolve as an intellectually coherent project but as an institutionally and administratively defined “de facto discipline” that is grounded in its role as an educational feeder for practice. Our main argument is that the ongoing postdisciplinary rearrangement may benefit public relations by relieving the necessity to live up to disciplinary pretensions. The chapter offers an alternative way of defining public relations in terms of cultural or tribal affinities and concludes with three suggestions for the future of public relations theory.}},
author = {{Nothhaft, Howard and Zerfass, Ansgar}},
booktitle = {{Public Relations Theory III : In the Age of Publics}},
editor = {{Botan, Carl and Sommerfeldt, Erich}},
isbn = {{9781003141396}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{247--266}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
title = {{Public Relations in an Postdisciplinary World : On the Impossibility of Establishing a Constitutive PR Theory within the Tribal Struggles of the Applied Communication Disciplines}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003141396-17}},
doi = {{10.4324/9781003141396-17}},
year = {{2023}},
}