The Discussion of the Change in Public Relations Scholarship Through a Socio-Cultural Turn.

Introduction

The view on public relations scholarship has been rapidly changing over the past few generations. Public relations scholarship in the past focus on the government, public and the communication process. With the social-cultural turn in the society, public relations scholarship has shifted to the study of the relationships between the government and the public. This essay will focus on the discussion of the change in public relations scholarship through a socio-cultural turn.

Previous Public Relations Scholarship

As stated by Grunig&Hunt (1984), public relations is defined as “the management of communications between thegovernment and its publics”. Using this as a foundation for building the models of public relations, they came up with four models of public relations.

The first two practices are namely “press agentry” and “public information”. Both models are based on a one-way communication from the government to the public. “Press agentry” is the production of publicity to make someone or something more desirable, admirable or successful. Press agents work to attract public notice rather than build public understanding. “Public information” is the production of publicity through journals and articles. These journals and articles would consist mainly of information regarding the government to the public.The practice of “one-way communication” in the past is very wide as it is fast, orderly and the presentation of facts are authoritative. However, the practice of “one-way communication” also has several disadvantages which are unfair to the public. “One-way communication” has very little audience participation and does not allow any room for feedback. Lastly, although “one-way communication” does effectively persuade the public, it does not influence the behaviour of the public.

The “one-way communication” methods has been very effective in persuading the public for the government. However, as culture starts to evolve, the public gets more...