Public Relations and the Art of Living Together

Public relations theory has expanded its conceptions of responsibility through the extension of established terms such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as new conceptualizations of what organizations owe to communities, stakeholders, and the societies in which they operate. In each case, scholars have articulated an expanded range of responsibilities as part of good organizational citizenship in interdependent communities. One function of such communities is self-governance, which includes nurturing deliberative systems to enable collective decision-making and address shared challenges. While public relations research has traditionally emphasized finding harmony between organizations and community actors (e.g., focusing public relations efforts toward maintaining discrete one-to-one relationships with stakeholders and publics means practitioners face the impossible task of harmonizing with groups who disagree with each other. By contrast, this chapter outlines the importance of agonistic engagement, through corporate social advocacy (CSA)—in support of the organization’s stakeholders and values—as a responsibility within pluralistic society. The chapter offers four premises for citizenship-oriented CSA engagement, centering the ability and responsibility for organizations to make productive contributions to deliberative systems and communities through stance taking.