| Chapter 1: | The Role Of Public Relations In Global Issues |
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with contextualized agency and empowerment to meet local needs (the cultural economy sphere) and achieve social justice.
In effect, this study operates at the confluence of global disparities and the discourses of colonization and public relations. The three key concepts that underlie and tie these together are process, power, and relationships. Throughout the book we analyze how practitioners serve as cultural intermediaries to create shared meanings, or discourses, surrounding globalization issues, thus legitimizing certain norms and values. These discourses may be competing and conflicting, depending on the interest of the organization being served and the audience being targeted. For example, as we discuss in chapter 5, whether palm oil is a healthy alternative or a source of heart disease, an environmental savior or a disaster, a boon to indigenous peoples or their doom depends on which public relations discourse one subscribes to—that of environmental groups, conservative think tanks, the medical community, the multinational cosmetic and food industries, and so on.
We use a cultural-economic approach to public relations practice (Curtin & Gaither, 2007) to disentangle the competing discourses surrounding globalization issues and the ways in which public relations practices have helped shape them to determine how these issues are being defined and what solutions these definitions suggest. Driving our analysis is a strong commitment to social justice and the belief that public relations can engage with audiences to find real solutions in a participatory manner. Our investigation embodies the spirit of the International Public Relations Association, which embraces the integral role of public relations in promoting peace, social justice, and cultural understanding.
Of note is that a cultural-economic approach is of necessity fluid and localized, making the study of issues in context essential. It necessitates the case-study approach we take, and it means that the examples and cases we use do not constitute an exhaustive accounting of public relations practices in postcolonial nations. They do, however, provide examples of ways in which public relations practices are shaping how people view and act