Public Relations

Evonth

PRO285Lecture3Culture.pdf

Home >Business & Finance homework help >Marketing homework help >Public Relations

Culture

Dr Kate Fitch

School of Arts

Lecture objectives

• To develop an understanding of culture, ‘one…of the most complicated words in the English language’ (Williams 1976, p. 78)

• To introduce anthropological and ethnographic approaches to public relations research

• To consider public relations in relation to culture – how public relations is influenced by, and influences, ‘culture’

About culture…

• Multi-discursive i.e. meaning is determined in relation to particular discursive contexts

• Contested i.e. it can be challenged, refused, negotiated, chosen

• Dynamic i.e. it is not static but a meaning-making process

• Historical i.e. its multiple meanings are derived partly from its different uses

• Decolonised i.e. 1960s cultural studies reworked ‘culture’, allowing a focus on the reproduction of social/power inequality (significant in globalising world).

Definitions of culture

• ‘the production and circulation of sense, meaning and consciousness … the sphere of reproduction’ (Hartley, 2002, p. 51)

• ‘the ensemble of social processes by which meanings are produced, circulated, exchanged … the site of the production of meanings’ (Thwaites, cited in Davis & Mules, 1994, pp. 1, 2)

• ‘the total life of a people … the social legacy the individual acquires from his group’ (Geertz, cited in L’Etang, 2009, p. 16)

Anthropology

• Study of ‘other’ cultures

• Traditionally, anthropology assumes culture is ‘objectively observable, systemic and pattern-oriented and pertains to values and behaviours that are common to all who are part of a given culture’ (Bardhan & Weaver, 2011, p. 8).

• Babakiueria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06DKCdJWK2c

• Useful to examine cultures in different contexts e.g. occupations, organisations, niche practices; offer alternative ways of thinking about public relations

Ethnography

• In PR research, using ethnography can help understand public relations and its effects in different ways.

• For example, understanding workers’ meaning making systems (Mills, 2002); interpreting the social role of public relations in a postmodern city (Hodges, 2011); and defining public relations in terms of the work actually performed in one sector (Cassidy, 2011).

In public relations

• Much 1990s research drew on Hofstede’s significant, large-scale, longitudinal study of over 70 countries, which mapped four dimensions of national culture.

• Research into ‘other’ countries tends to compare their practices against US benchmark.

• Public relations should focus on ‘building positive multicultural relationships and communities.’ (Banks, 2000, p. x).

Doing culture

• ‘cultural intermediary’ (Hodges, 2006; Curtin & Gaither, 2007), requires cultural reflexivity ‘allowing them to see the world in terms other than their own’ (Curtin & Gaither, 2007, p. 262)

• ‘culture workers’ – practitioners continuously cross cultures (’border crossings’) within and between organisations and communities (on and offline) (L’Etang, 2011, p. 19)

• Public relations as occupational culture (Edwards, 2014)

Facebook

Protesting the intervention (2010)

Facebook response

• We are aware that people sometimes share content containing nudity for reasons like awareness campaigns, artistic projects or cultural investigations. The reason we restrict the display of nudity is because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content – particularly because of cultural background or age. In order to treat people fairly and respond to reports quickly, it is essential that we have policies in place that our global teams can apply uniformly and easily when reviewing content. As a result, our policies can sometimes be more blunt than we would like, and restrict content shared for legitimate purposes. We encourage people to share Celeste Liddle’s speech on Facebook by simply removing the image before posting it.

Practitioner perspectives

• Knowledge of world affairs: ‘we are … in a globalised community and you need to understand it in a broader context’ particularly with international clients, regional activity and culturally diverse communities.

• Understanding cultural difference: ‘explaining and accepting the differences, that one shoe does not fit all’

• Working in other countries: need awareness of ‘all these protocols about how you deal with Chinese business people, what’s acceptable and what’s not…’

• Developing openness: ‘the willingness and openness to understanding cultural differences’

• Developing assertiveness and curiosity: ‘we have brainstorms … and no one will say a word’

Conclusions

• Public relations requires cultural competence.

• Public relations practice negotiates culture(s), by crossing boundaries within and across nations.

• Public relations requires global, as well as local, knowledge.

• Public relations needs to be recognised as a Western corporate business practice.

• Public relations practitioners require reflexivity in relation to their cultural heritage as well as the cultural values underpinning industry practices and knowledge.