- Summary
- Contents
The SAGE Key Concepts series provides students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension.
Key Concepts in Public Relations:
- Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use overview to the field
- Covers over 150 central concepts in PR
- Paves the way for students to tackle primary texts
- Grounds students in both practice and theory
- Takes it further with recommended reading
Introduction
Public Opinion
The opinion of particular publics, and arguably the creation or manipulation of this opinion, is central to the practice of public relations. Edward Bernays, one of the earliest practitioners of the modern profession, wrote Crystallizing Public Opinion in 1923. Others have continued to talk about manufacturing and creating consent among the public, specifically with reference to participatory democracy and the theories of the public sphere (Habermas, 1989), or indeed the lack of such public opportunity for debate.
Definitions of what constitutes public opinion vary according to the weight that they place on the importance of individual views, and their access to the forums in which issues are debated (Pieczka, 1996). Some theorists would argue that the concept constitutes a collective view of the ...
