Dressing for battle in the new global economy: Putting power, identity, and discourse into public relations theory

Abstract

This article argues that public relations theorists need to acknowledge their generally unspoken support for, and allegiance to, corporate capitalist power and to reconsider that allegiance in the context of the new economy. In my view, such a move would encourage more open consideration of whether public relations scholarship should be contributing uncritically to the development of a globalized capitalist economy and of where public relations theory should be positioned in relation to the development of that economy. If mainstream public relations theory were more open to theorizing structures of power, it would also be more open to consideration of how public relations practice could be appropriated by, and work to serve the interests of, those groups who perceive themselves as disempowered by globalization or who oppose the philosophies and/or economic effects of that globalization.