Beyond clickbait and commerce

Recognising the shadow elements of PR – persuasion and its
even darker cousin propaganda – brings the issue of power to
the foreground in Fawkes’ analysis, including economic, social,
and cultural power, although interestingly she does not mention
political power.
Despite her strong criticisms of dominant theories of PR and
shameful practices that are enacted (Stauber and Rampton 1995),
Fawkes does not dismiss PR per se or stop at deconstruction. She
uses Jung’s depth psychology to point out that, in the case of
individuals, the ‘self’ is composed of multiple elements that often
act in conflict or tension with each other, describing this as a ‘messy
psyche’ (p. 141). So it is with organisations, Fawkes suggests.
The point is to recognise the dark side, the power imbalances,
the potentialities for harm as well as good, and deal with them
rather than veneer them over with idealistic theories, self-serving
managerial and functionalist models of practice, and aspirational
and unenforceable codes of ethics. Fawkes also constructively
calls for an end to the ‘slanging match’ that often occurs between
critical scholars and proponents of the dominant paradigm, and
sees hope in newly emerging sociocultural thinking about PR that
seeks to integrate the interests of organisations and society.
Fawkes also draws on a substantial body of literature beyond Jung,
including the social theories of Durkheim and Weber, Habermas’s
public sphere and its corrupting influences (Habermas 1989), and
Bourdieu’s habitus (Bourdieu 1984), as well as complexity theory,
chaos theory, postmodernism and concepts such as reflexivity. In
contrast with triumphalist texts on PR, Fawkes refreshingly practises
reflexivity, citing her own experiences as a PR practitioner before
becoming an academic, and ‘owning up’ to her own doubts and
uncertainties. She argues that ‘uncertainty is a healthy state to be
in when reflecting on ethical situations’, rejecting the hubris of
certainty and ‘idealised self-images’ (p. 1; p. 5).
While this book is based on ‘conceptual research’ and a ‘hermeneutic
approach’ (p. 5) involving critical interpretation rather than new
empirical data, it presents new ideas for twenty-first century public
relations.
Given the increasing role of PR as ‘a social force … a producer of
culture’ in contemporary societies (p. 226), the arguments presented
in this book warrant close attention by scholars, professional bodies
in the PR industry, and practitioners.
References
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984) Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of
taste, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press
Copyright 2016-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 13, No 2/3 2016 111