From the start, women were central to a century of westward migration in the U.S. Community Building and Early Public Relations: Pioneer Women’s Role on and after the Oregon Trail offers a path forward in broadening PR's Caucasian/White male-gendered history in the U.S. Undergirded by humanist, communitarian, critical race theory, social constructionist perspectives, and a feminist communicology lens, this book analyzes U.S. pioneer women's lived experiences, drawing parallels with PR's most basic functions – relationship-building, networking, community building, boundary spanning, and advocacy. Using narrative analysis of diaries and reminiscences of women who travelled 2,000+ miles on the Oregon Trail in the mid-to-late 1800s, Pompper uncovers how these women filled roles of Caretaker/Advocate, Community Builder of Meeting Houses and Schools, served a Civilizing Function, offered Agency and Leadership, and provided Emotional Connection for Social Cohesion. Revealed also is an inevitable paradox as Caucasian/White pioneer women’s interactional qualities made them complicit as colonizers, forever altering indigenous peoples’ way of life. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate PR students, PR practitioners, and researchers of PR history and social identity intersectionalities. It encourages us to expand the definition of PR to include community building, and to revise linear timeline and evolutionary models to accommodate voices of women and people of color prior to the twentieth century.

The comprehensive guide to applied PR theory in the 21st century Public Relations Theory explores the central principles and theoretical components of public relations and their practical applications in actual situations. This informative text helps readers to understand the concepts, approaches, and perspectives of PR theory and learn development methods, implementation strategies, management techniques, and more. Chapters written by recognized experts on each topic provide readers with knowledge on how, when, and why appropriate theories are applied. Focusing on how organizations and individuals integrate theory in a public relations framework, each chapter explains one function, explores its potential challenges and opportunities, provides an example of the function in practice, and offers discussion questions and additional reading suggestions. Unique in structure, this text arranges chapters by function, rather than theory, allowing readers to see how multiple theories can be applied to each public relations function and how theories can be used in different professional settings. Comprehensive treatment of topics including social and emerging media, globalization, public diplomacy, corporate and investor relations, and others ensures relevant and timely coverage of contemporary PR issues. Demonstrates how public relations theory is applied in real-world practice Illustrates how successfully applied public relations theories lead to positive outcomes Discusses the relevance of public relations with accessible and engaging language Offers multiple perspectives from leading international public relations scholars Includes pedagogical tools including chapter discussion questions, practical examples, tables, and suggested reading lists Public Relations Theory: Application and Understanding is suitable for instructors and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in courses on public relations theory, as well as practitioners seeking further knowledge on the most current developments in the field.

Public relations is a uniquely pervasive force in our modern economy, influencing every aspect of our lives from the personal to the political. This comprehensive volume provides an expert overview of current scholarship, reflecting the impact of technology, society, and demographic shifts in a complex global environment. The last century saw the emergence of the public relations discipline. This expertly curated collection explores the dynamic growth in thinking about public relations’ role in our changing global society, now and into the future. It reflects the challenges and perspectives of postcolonial, postmodern, feminist, critical race theory, social responsibility, sustainability, activist standpoints, as well as the profound and unpredictable impact of technological change and social media. Each chapter provides an overview of current knowledge and its roots, while engaging with emerging new directions and old debates – and advocates for where the research agenda is likely to advance in the future. This unique Companion will be an essential resource for students and researchers in public relations, communication, marketing, media, and cultural studies. It provides an authoritative reference for educators and a one-stop repository of public relations knowledge, scholarship, and debates for the enquiring professional.

This two-part volume examines current pedagogical modules, research directions and other emerging issues in public relations and communication management in Africa. In comparison to its Western and Asian counterparts, the literature on public relations management in Africa is limited, and much of it is examined through the lenses of Western philosophies and pedagogies that do not generally resonate with Africa's socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts. This book aims to change that. Through analyzing the organizational dynamic, Volume 1 brings together contributors from across Africa to provide valuable insights into how public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness on the continent. Chapters discussed include a review of public relations research in Africa, the role of the African CEO as a public relations activist, the use of social and digital media in public relations, the measurement and evaluation of communication programs, and the implications of the fourth industrial revolution on public relations practice in Africa. Providing important pathways and overviews of public relations management in Africa, this volume not only highlights current practices but offers insights into the future of the practice within its evolving global landscape.

This inaugural edited collection for the Communicating Responsible Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion series explores the active promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a public relations responsibility and provides new avenues for critiquing the ways in which power operates through public relations work and theory building.

When initially published in 2005, the two-volume Encyclopedia of Public Relations was the first and most authoritative compilation of the subject. It remains the sole reference source for any library serving patrons in business, communication, and journalism as it explores the evolution of the field with examples describing the events, changing practices, and key figures who developed and expanded the profession. Reader’s Guide topics include Crisis Communications & Management, Cyberspace, Ethics, Global Public Relations, Groups, History, Jargon, Management, Media, News, Organizations, Relations, Reports, Research, and Theories & Models. Led by renowned editor Robert L. Heath, with advisory editors and contributors from around the world, the set is designed to reach a wide array of student readers who will go on to serve as opinion leaders for improving the image and ethics of the practice. The Second Edition continues to explore key challenges facing the profession, such as earning the trust and respect of critics and the general public. Much greater emphasis and space will be placed on a theme that was just emerging when the First Edition appeared: the Internet and social media as public relations tools. International coverage and representation has been greatly expanded, as well. Finally, biographies (which are now widely available on the Web) have been deleted to give room to areas of enhanced coverage, and biographical material are included where appropriate within the context of topical entries. However, a long entry on women pioneers in public relations has been included as an appendix.

The emergence of relationship management as a paradigm for public relations scholarship and practice requires a close examination of just what is achieved by public relations--its definition, function and value, and the benefits it generates. Initiated by the editors' interest in cross-disciplinary exploration, this volume evolved to its current form as a result of the need for a framework for understanding public relations and the potential impact of organization-public relationships on the study, practice, and teaching of public relations. Ledingham and Bruning include contributions that present state-of-the-art research in relationship management, applications of the relational perspective to various components of public relations, and the implications of the approach to influence further research and practice. The discussion conducted here is certain to influence and promote future theory and practice on the concept of relationship management.

Leading experts present cutting-edge ideas and current research on product placement! The Handbook of Product Placement in the Mass Media: New Strategies in Marketing Theory, Practice, Trends, and Ethics is the first serious book in English to examine the wider contexts and varied texts of product placement, related media marketing strateg

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.

Communities are composed of connected individuals. The communication that exists within, about, and between these communities is at the heart of Communication Yearbook 28. This book draws from the broad range encompassed by the communication discipline to review literature that has something to say about community and what the communication discipline has to contribute to understanding this human connection. Offering state-of-the-art research, Communication Yearbook 28 presents: *an influence model addressing the most basic level of community--the personal relationship; *the literature on romantic and parent-child relationships at a distance; *community in terms of those working at home and telecommuting, running home-based businesses, and participating in online communities; *the communicative venue for community building and fragmentation; *social capital and tolerance; *the literature on collaboration, examining this communicative performance in community groups; *community as a foundation for the study of public relations theory and practice; *the visual images of community and what they suggest about these communities to those looking in from the outside; *the role new technology plays in maintaining community; and *community contexts. This book is an important reference on current research for scholars and students in the social sciences.