Imagining the lives of others: Empathy in public relations

Abstract

This article asks how we might theorise empathy in public relations (PR) in the light of a widespread turn towards emotion in the academy, as well as in popular discourse. Two distinct notions of empathy are explored: ‘true’ empathy, as discussed in intercultural communication, is driven by a human concern for the other in order to understand experiences, feelings and situations that may be different from our own, whereas ‘instrumental’ empathy, reflecting a self orientation, is said to characterise much neoliberal market discourse in which corporations are urged to understand their customers better. Thus, while empathy may seem highly desirable as a means to enter into dialogue with an organisation’s publics, particularly during times of social upheaval and crisis, it is important to pay attention to empathy in PR discourses, including whose goals are served by empathetic engagement, and the type(s) of empathy called upon within a PR context. A literature review identified a sociocultural definition of empathy as ‘imaginary effort’. A review of the PR literature, however, found that while empathy is considered an important principle and personal attribute, notions of empathy, with a few exceptions, are under-explored. Nonfunctionalist, sociocultural research which examines the meanings that practitioners associate with empathy is distinctly lacking; therefore, in order to gain further insight into empathy, two sources of data were explored. The analysis of a popular online practitioner blog showed that other-centred empathic skill is discursively framed as instrumental in achieving clients’ business objectives. The analysis of three empathy statements drawn from 12 in-depth interviews with practitioners revealed complex empathic discourse in practitioner–client relationships. While the findings are limited to illustrative analyses only, this article challenges researchers to develop conceptualisations and perspectives of empathy as imaginary effort in PR.