Public relations and the performance of everything

Abstract

Public relations are inherently a performance practice, invoking the multiple connotations of that word. Practitioners perform their professional identities, managing the line between conforming to and disrupting role expectations. They also stage the performances of others, through media events and training, and through the creation of appearances in text and image. This chapter explores public relations through the lenses of performance and performativity and questions the impact these stagings of self and others have on society in general. It considers public relations as a form of dramaturgy: the arrangement of events and experiences for consumption by others. The chapter provides reflections on the contribution of what Boorstin termed “pseudo-events” on 21st-century culture, asking if we have all become such accomplished performers that we forget to look behind the mask. It attempts a more nuanced approach, which faces up to the responsibilities inherent in generating a culture predicated on consumption and display but finally offers a Jungian path for moving forward.