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Public Relations Capitalism

Promotional Culture, Publics and Commercial Democracy

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  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Anne M. Cronin

    1. Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

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  • Argues that a new ‘commercial democracy’ is emerging, politicising promotional culture in new ways

  • Explores today’s media landscape in the context of a changing democracy within neoliberal capitalism

  • Highlights the social and political significance of an intensifying ‘commercial speech’ in contemporary society

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Introduction

    • Anne M. Cronin
    Pages 1-7

  3. Public Relations, Publics, Publicity: Neoliberal Capitalism’s Media and Mediation

    • Anne M. Cronin
    Pages 9-40

  4. Commercial Democracy and a New Social Contract: Brands and Corporate Reputation as ‘Commercial Promises’

    • Anne M. Cronin
    Pages 41-73

  5. Charity PR and the Production of Social Values

    • Anne M. Cronin
    Pages 75-103

  6. Conclusion: Promotional Culture, PR as Commercial Speech, and the Politics of Lying

    • Anne M. Cronin
    Pages 105-116

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 117-120
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Keywords

About this book

This book argues that we are witnessing the emergence of ‘commercial democracy’ in which public relations, promotional culture and the media play a new, central role. As the conventional democratic promise of political representation loses traction with the public in many countries, commercial culture steps into this vacuum by offering mirror forms of democracy. Commercial democracy promises representation, voice and agency to the public and in doing so creates new forms of social contract. Based on empirical material, this book examines the Public Relations (PR) produced by corporations and communications produced by charities in an intensely mediatized society. It presents a novel analysis of the shifting significance of brand and reputation. It analyses the ascendancy of commercial speech, PRs’ relationship to post-truth politics, and the transformation of cultural intermediaries into ‘social brokers’. As PR and promotional culture come to inhabit the realm of the social contract and new forms of politics, ‘the public’ and the very idea of ‘publicity’ are transformed.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Anne M. Cronin

About the author

Anne M. Cronin is a Reader in the sociology department at Lancaster University, UK. Her most recent book is Advertising, Commercial Spaces and the Urban (Palgrave, 2010).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Public Relations Capitalism

  • Book Subtitle: Promotional Culture, Publics and Commercial Democracy

  • Authors: Anne M. Cronin

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72637-3

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-72636-6Published: 24 January 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-89191-0Published: 06 June 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-72637-3Published: 24 January 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VII, 120

  • Topics: Media Sociology, Media Studies, Communication Studies, Sociology of Culture

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