Persona - An Old Public Relations Problem?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21153/ps2016vol2no1art533Keywords:
public relations, persona, rhetoric, identity, imageAbstract
This essay uses the neologism citizen public relations to express a view of the phenomena examined by persona studies implying that public relations studies might be regarded as an antecedent discipline to the former. It goes on to suggest potentially intriguing differences and similarities to do with political and epistemological problematics. The central theme is that the term identity is simultaneously the key link and the key contrast between the two disciplines. This is because the term identity is usually deployed at the internal, psychological, subjective level by scholars of persona while it is usually applied to external, material objects and events by the public relations industry and its academia. The essay also makes the point that both areas of study can be unified as different species of the genera rhetoric in the traditional sense of that still older field. This coincidence and dissonance may invoke a debate which can lead to theory development in all three fields. The fields are not comprehensively surveyed – a process which would be lengthy and might bring up many contrasting perspectives. Instead the work of representative leading authors is presented to make a prima facie case.
Downloads
References
Ansell Pearson, Keith, and Duncan Large. Nietzsche Reader. 2006. Ebook.
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Trans. Lawson-Tancred, Hugh. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1991. Print
Barkan, Joshua. "Personhood." Corporate Sovereignty. Ed. Barkan, Joshua. Law and Government under Capitalism: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. 65-86. Ebook.
Cheyney, G., and G. Dionisopoulos. "Public Relations? No, Relations with Publics: A Rhetorical-Organisational Approach to Contemporary Corporate Public Relations." Public Relations Theory. Eds. Botan, Carl and Vince Hazleton. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989. 135-58. Print
Cheyney, George. "The Corporate Person (Re)Presents Itself." Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations. Eds. Toth, Elizabeth and Robert Heath. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. 165-83. Print
Coombs, T. "Crisis, Crisis Communication, Reputation, and Rhetoric." Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations. Eds. Heath, Robert L., Elizabeth L. Toth and Damion Waymer. New York: Routledge, 2009. 237-52. Print
Dictionary, Oxford English. "Discourse, N.". Oxford University Press. Web.
Elwood, William N. Public Relations Inquiry as Rhetorical Criticism : Case Studies of Corporate Discourse and Social Influence. Praeger Series in Political Communication,. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1995. Print.
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990. Print.
Grunig, James E. "Image and Substance: From Symbolic to Behavioral Relationships." Public Relations Review 19 2 (1993): 121-39. Web.
Heath, R. "Introduction." Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations. Eds. Heath, Robert, Elizabeth Toth and Damion Waymer. New York: Routledge, 2009. 1-12. Print.
---. "Rhetorical Enactment Rationale." Handbook of Public Relations. Eds. Heath, R. and G. Vasquez. London: Sage, 2000. 31-50. Print.
---. "Wrangle in the Marketplace." Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations. Eds. Toth, E. and R Heath. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. 17-36. Print.
Heath, Robert L., Elizabeth L. Toth, and Damion Waymer. Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations Ii. Communication Series. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Hobsbawm, E, and T Ranger. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.
Ihlen, O. "Rhetorical Theory of Public Relations." The Blackwell International Encyclopedia of Communication. Ed. Donsbach, W. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. 4395-97. Print.
Kendall, Robert. Public Relations Campaign Strategies : Planning for Implementation. 2nd ed. New York: HarperColins College Publishers, 1996. Print.
Lawler, Steph. Identity : Sociological Perspectives. 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2013. Print.
Marshall, P. David, and Kim Barbour. "Making Intellectual Room for Persona Studies: A New Consciousness and a Shifted Perspective." Persona Studies 1.1 (2015). 29 January 2016 Web.
Marx, K., and F. Engels. The German Ideology. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1970. Print.
Nelson, Fraser. "Sweden Shows How Not to Handle Migration." Opinion. The Age, Melbourne 2 February 2016, sec. Opinion: 27-27. Web.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, et al. Friedrich Nietzsche on Rhetoric and Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print.
Olins, Wally. Corporate Identity: Making Business Strategy Visible through Design. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989. Print.
Ranker. "The Most Successful Celebrity Endorsements". 2016. http://www.ranker.com/list/most-successful-celebrity-endorsements-v1/celebrity-lists. Web.
Robertson, Roland. "Aspects of Identity and Authority." Identity and Authority: Explorations in the Theory of Society. Eds. Robertson, Roland and Burkart Holzner. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980. 218-65. Print.
Seidman, Steven. Contested Knowledge : Social Theory Today. 5th ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. Print.
Skeggs, Beverley. Class, Self, Culture. Transformations. London: Routledge, 2004. Print.
Times_editorial. "Lost Generation - We Should Help Syrian War Orphans." Editorial The Times 26 January 2016, sec. Editorial: 21-21. Web.
Weaver, Kay, Judy Motion, and Juliet Roper. "From Propaganda to Discourse (and Back Again): Truth, Power, the Public Interest, and Public Relations." Public Relations Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice. Eds. L'Etang, Jacquie and Magda Pieczka. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006. 7-21. Print.
Woodward, Kath. Understanding Identity. London: Arnold, 2002. Print.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
How to Cite
