Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
10255994 Public Relations Review 2005 8 Pages PDF
Abstract
This article adopts a Foucauldian lens to critique public relations practices that engage stakeholders in participative processes with predetermined outcomes. It contests the popular notion that the role of public relations is to minimize or diffuse conflict, arguing that such efforts are in fact manifestations of power designed to legitimate the discourses, power and positions of the dominant coalition. The analysis concentrates on attempts to transform a national economic discourse at the Catching the Knowledge Wave Conference, held in New Zealand. It illustrates how a government-university alliance deployed public relations to gain legitimacy for economic change with the business community and more generally, New Zealand citizens.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Business, Management and Accounting Marketing
Authors
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