PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY

Public relations is more than message production or campaign tactics. It is a field shaped by relationships, publics, stakeholder interests, trust, legitimacy, meaning, power, and increasingly by digital platforms, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY: Power, Publics & Stakeholders offers a structured route through the theoretical lenses that help readers diagnose these dynamics. Across eighteen chapters, the book distinguishes theories from models and frameworks; examines foundational public relations models, the Situational Theory of Publics and STOPS, Stakeholder Theory and salience, relationship management, trust, dialogic communication and organizational listening, legitimacy and social capital, rhetoric and framing, critical public relations, networked publics, platform power, and AI-mediated communication.Rather than treating theory as a list of definitions, the book uses theory as an explanatory tool. Critical questions, diagnostic matrices, working definitions, and theory-selection logic help readers separate fact from interpretation and theoretical inference, choose an appropriate lens, and recognize the limits of what evidence permits them to conclude. Author-developed concepts are clearly distinguished from established scholarly theories.Designed for independent study, university-level learning, research support, and professional reflection, this edition is intended for readers who want a rigorous but usable foundation for thinking about public relations in a networked, AI-mediated communication environment.