ABSTRACT

This innovative book explores ten great works, by well-known thinkers and orators, whose impact has been intellectual, practical and global. Most of the works significantly precede public relations as a phrase or profession, but all are in no doubt about the force of planned public communication, and the power that lies with those managing the process.

The works are stimulating and diverse and were written to address some of society’s biggest challenges. Although not traditionally the focus of public relations research, they have all had a global impact as communicators and as the foundation for fundamental ideas, from spirituality to war and economics to social justice. Each addresses the implications of structured communication between organizations and societies, and scrutinizes or advocates activities that are now central to PR and its morality. They could not ignore PR, and PR cannot ignore them.

This book will be essential reading for researchers and scholars in public relations and communication and will also be of inter-disciplinary interest to study in sociology, literature, philosophy, politics and history.

chapter |10 pages

PR and the history of ideas

chapter |12 pages

Virtuous PR

Confucius (c. 551–479 bc), Analects (c. first quarter of fifth century, bc)

chapter |11 pages

Noble falsehoods and PR

Plato (c. 428–347 bc), The Republic (first half of fourth century bc)

chapter |11 pages

The problem of perfection

Abu Nasr al-Farabi (c. 875–c. 950/1ad), On the Perfect State (c. 950)

chapter |12 pages

PR and the subjugation of reason

Martin Luther (1483–1546), The Ninety-five Theses (1517)

chapter |11 pages

Willpower and the expansion of PR

Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), On War (1832–35)

chapter |13 pages

PR, scientific inquiry and utopian mysticism

Karl Marx (1818–83) and Frederick Engels (1820–95), The Communist Manifesto (1848)

chapter |14 pages

Proofing against puffing

John Stuart Mill (1806–73), On Liberty (1859)

chapter |11 pages

Modern campaign management?

Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi (1869–1948), Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with Truth (1925–29)

chapter |12 pages

Accepting and fearing PR

Friedrich von Hayek (1899–1992), The Road to Serfdom (1944)

chapter |11 pages

PR's choice: creating audiences or discovering individuals

Carl Jung (1875–1961), The Undiscovered Self (1957)

chapter |11 pages

The future of PR

Irrational or rational? Magical or scientific? Individual or collective?