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When analysing public relations as an occupational field, its professionalisation
represents a predominant research question. This article demonstrates that the
models most frequently used to discuss this question – the trait and power approaches
– employ theoretical assumptions that are no longer adequate. The
trait approach presumes that occupations gain autonomy during the process
of professionalisation, whereas the power approach assumes a monopolisation
of the fields of activity. Therefore, both models describe professionalisation as
a process toward social segregation. This assumption is questionable, because
the professionalisation of public relations may be a response to the challenges of
a highly diversified and interconnected society.
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Understanding public relations
as the management of interdependences within and for organizations requires a
balance among professional identity, organisational alignments and structural
openness. When theories unilaterally stress a professional demarcation through
autonomisation or monopolisation, they a priori arrive at the diagnosis that the
existing professionalisation of public relations is insufficient. Therefore, this
article calls for a reorientation of occupational theory in public relations research.
Survey data regarding the training and occupational socialisation of
public relations practitioners in Switzerland reveal the empirical usefulness of
such a reorientation.
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