Public relations, sophistry and the rhetoric of democracy

The intention of this paper is to explain the activities of public relations in terms of rhetorical theory and the history of sophistry. There is a burgeoning field of study in the US which is incorporating much cultural and communication theory into both historical and contemporary perspectives on these two ancient arts. Consequently, an examination of the purposive communication activities of public relations offers an opportunity to involve semiotics as a central concept for analysing the creation and maintenance of democratic thought and institutions. This paper highlights Peircean semiotics in this respect and suggests the relevance of Peirce's notion of the 'Pragmatic Maxim' and his use of the concept of 'habit' in terms of how public relations might be said to 'cast' the quality of the democracy which we experience.

Role of social power relations in gift giving on Valentine's day

This study investigates motives for gift giving by young males on Valentine's Day and advances previous research on this ritual by controlling for the giving context (occasion and relationship). The study is consistent with previous work by Goodwin et al. (1990) which found that motivations based on obligation, self-interest and altruism do indeed exist. More significantly, however, this study points to the finding that individual motivations for the gift-giving ritual on Valentine's Day may be more intricately intertwined and have deeper manifestations in the perceived social power relationship between the genders. The study recommends that marketers delve beyond the immediate horizon of individual motivations and become even more acutely aware of the 'intrinsic social power messages' that arise from the conjoint influences of motivations. This would have great potential for marketing even more meaningful gift products to both givers and receivers.

Overview of contemporary public relations theory

Aims of this chapter
* To outline key theoretical frames that inform campaign development
* To demonstrate the challenges of applying cetain theories
* To illustrate the application of theory in practice

Implementing elements of Schon's reflective practitioner in an undergraduate public relations program

While the internship unit in a public relations degree is often viewed as the foremost area of experiential learning it can fail to deliver significant learning outcomes for student and teacher. This paper explores the use of other activity-based learning (ABL) methods as implemented in the Deakin University public relations undergraduate degree. The paper applies Donald Schon's concept of the reflective practitioner to learning undertaken in an internship unit and compares this application to two other units where ABL is used and the focus is on creating a client-professional relationship. For the purpose of this paper information was analysed using the 2006 on-campus cohort only. The cohort was further refined to include those students who successfully completed the degree of BA in public relations. Student internship evaluation forms and unit records were viewed to gain statistical information.

Legal relations of collectives : belated insights from Hohfeld

Collectives and their interrelations are central to international law. Legal relations between collectives can be analysed with reference to the classic account of Hohfeld without reducing those collectives to mere aggregates of individuals and without recourse to the legal fiction of treating the collective, for example the state, as a quasi-individual. The rights of collectives have been widely if not conclusively explored within international law, but Hohfeld’s ‘field’ approach to legal relations enables the scrutiny of the range of relations, including immunities, liberties, powers, and disabilities, as well as claim-rights and the corresponding obligations in others. The main substantive topics for discussion are the legal relations of collective entities such as peoples and minorities, and closely related matters such as self-determination. Applying Hohfeldian analysis to international law highlights the centrality of international collective entities of which the state represents only one variety. The approach described here therefore takes account of the dethroning of the state within contemporary international law and contributes to the theorization of that development. Nearly one hundred years after its
first appearance, Hohfeld’s analytic scheme continues to generate insights for international law.

The equilibrium relations between stock index and bond index: evidence from Bursa Malaysia

This paper aims at examining the correlation structure, co-integration relationship and volatility linkage between stock and bond market indices over a period from January 1994 to June 2004. This study uses Johansen Cointegratoin test, VECM-X model and GARCH (1,1) with MDH model to examine the existence of long-term relation and volatility linkage between stock and bond market. The findings shed some light on the existence of mean-reverting pattern of correlation across different economic environments.  Findings on co-movement of stock and bond indices suggest an equilibrium relationship with short-term error correction. While evidence from volatility linkage also suggests that bond market cannot provide a meaningful explanation for conditional volatility in stock market, therefore, rejecting the mixture of distribution hypothesis.

Community relations : gateways support services 2005- 06

Aims of this chapter
* To define the qualities of a sustained and effective community relations campaign that meets extended social, ethical and economic imperatives
* To demonstrate how organisations can choose communicative activities that holistically build community, cooperation and trust, as well as providing important funds
* To identify other trends in community relations and highlight their limitations

Rethinking policies for the retention of allied health professionals in rural areas : a social relations approach

Objective: Retaining allied health professionals in rural areas is a recognised problem. Generally the literature has concentrated on three elements: practitioner needs, community needs and organisational needs. There has been little attempt to focus other types of social relations in which health practitioner retention and recruitment takes place. The aim of this paper is to question the present dominant hierarchical approach taken in relation to the retention of allied health professionals in rural localities.

Methods: The data derives from a survey in Southwest Victoria, Australia. The sample was purposive rather than representative as it was intended to be exploratory in nature rather than definitive.

Results: The data indicates that there is a greater tendency for allied health professionals in private practice to be retained in rural areas than those in the public sector.

Conclusion: The paper concludes by raising some questions about the pertinence of present models for regional health initiatives since they are locked into a bureuacratic model where relationships are hierarchical and asymmetrically controlled.

Conversations with the public : the role of journalists and public relations practitioners in creating civil discourses in non-metropolitan settings

This research deconstructs the relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners operating in non-metropolitan contexts. In identifying the specific differences in the way this relationship is defined within these contexts the research highlights the impact of these differences on the conversations  these media professionals have with their publics. Ultimately this relationship is see to be a key definer of the nature of the civil discourses within these non-metropolitan communities.

Country practice : a case study of regional public relations practice

Research into public relations practice in all settings is vital given the extent and spread of its practice. However, despite the maturity of the public relations profession and the number of public relations practitioners who operate outside metropolitan areas, there has been little research to identify the distinctive nature of public relations practice in regional locations.

This research project begins a dissection of the nature of professional public relations practice in a non-metropolitan setting through the examination of public relations activity, workplaces and interactions in a regional locale. The project seeks to examine the specific nature of public relations practice in non-metropolitan Australia through a case study of two Victorian regional cities; Ballarat and Warrnambool. Analysis of these two sites provides the pilot stage for a larger future comparative examination of public relations practice in regional Australian centres with a variety of economic, demographic and geographic profiles.

Analytic prediction of structural stress-strain relations of microstructured metal

Nanostructured and ultra-fine grained metals have higher strength but extremely limited ductility compared to coarse grained metals. However, their ductility can be greatly improved by introducing a specific range of grain sizes in the microstructures. In the paper, multiscale unit cell approach (UCA) is developed and applied to predict the averaged stress-strain relations of the multiscale microstructure metals. The unit cell models are three-phase structured at different scale lengths of 100 nm, 1 μm and 10 μm with different volume fractions and periodic boundary conditions. The contributions of multi-scale microstructures to the macroscopic structural properties of metals are also studied using a analytic approach—two-step mean-field method (TSMF), where three microstructural parameters are introduced and thus mechanical properties such as strength and ductility are presented as a function of these parameters. For verification of these proposed numerical and theoretical algorithms, the structural properties of the pure nickel with three-grain microstructures are studied and the results from FEA and the proposed theory have good agreement.

Corporate social responsibility, new activism and public relations

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse why some contemporary corporate organisations are reluctant to articulate the effect of their market positioning behaviour on the unwilling communities that oppose their activities. It describes the communicative interactions between several large corporate organisations and the grassroots activist groups opposing their activities, in Victoria, Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – Extensive secondary data were collected, including extensive newspaper and radio transcripts from the campaign periods, web site downloads, letters and other campaign documents. The research design applied to the data, a qualitative, interpretative analysis, drawing on key theoretical frameworks.

Findings – The research findings suggest that powerful protest strategies, combined with the right political and social conditions, and a shift in the locus of politics and expertise, bring to light public concerns about the ethics of corporate practices, such as public relations, used egocentrically by organisations, to harmonise their activities in late modern Western society. It finds that no serious overhaul of business ethics can occur until the unity of public relations is critically scrutinised and reformed. It helps define an alternative holistic communicative approach which could be applied more widely to business practice that helps avoid the limitations and relativism of public relations.

Originality/value – The research flags new ways of thinking expressed in the notion of public communication that could lead to creative and unusual coherences vital to deal with the apparent ecological challenges for society in late modernity.