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by structural factors, but they are also subject to the peculiarities of circumstance, bringing in a sense of agency operating within institutional constraints.
Within the cultural-economic model, public relations practitioners act as cultural intermediaries, putting representations and identities into circulation to create shared meanings. Such an approach allows for multiple definitions of what constitutes public relations, ranging from corporate and agency practice to propaganda and activist communication, among many other forms. By linking the particular and the institutional, the model provides a basis for theory building that informs and explains practice in a wide range of contexts and does not privilege Western, corporate models over the rich varieties of practice that exist in other regions of the world.
This monograph is, in some sense, the applied counterpart to our first one. It is aimed at practitioners and scholars who grapple with making practice work in a globalized world. Our goal is not to delineate the theoretical arguments as we did in our first study but to demonstrate the need for theory and practice that operate in a globalized environment in a way that is socially just. Public relations practice must address the growing issues of inequity provoked by globalization if it is to contribute to creation of a just global society.
In turn, our perspective requires that we situate ourselves in relation to our area of study. We are former public relations practitioners with agency and corporate experience who now teach and conduct research in the field. Our realm of professional experience is mainly limited to the United States and is thus decidedly Western. We have, however, collectively traveled to more than 35 countries and have interviewed people around the globe involved in public relations practices. We have tried to use their perspectives and concerns to broaden our understandings, and we have endeavored to respect their voices. Whether we have succeeded in doing so is open to debate, and we welcome that discussion as one way in which to advance understanding of the field.