Toward a new dawn of public relations

Abstract

Public relations, as defined and conceptualized, has too often advanced an asymmetrical worldview with presuppositions, values, and models of practice antithetical to the common good. What is needed instead is a new interpretation of public relations that reflects a worldview beyond the standard formulations and that values a larger sense of relationships. Within a worldview of caritas, public relations practice framed as a covenantal model of public relations and as covenantal stewardship with an expanded definition of “publics” is preferable. In an increasingly interconnected, fragile world, organization-centric behavior at the expense of society is no longer sustainable, much less justifiable. Public relations professionals not only will serve as change agents personally but, more importantly, foster pro-social behavior in others and future generations. Inasmuch as studies show biodiversity is important ecologically, culturally, and economically, expanding the theoretical universe of public relations to include nonhuman species of the natural world makes practical as well as moral sense.