This study proposes a beyond modernist conceptual model for businesses' social
engagement to address social development through public relations. This model is
based on the premises that social thinking shifted towards beyond modernist
thinking, that the same shift is evident in social development and that businesses'
social engagement to address social development through public relations should be
aligned with this shift in social thinking and in social development.
The social shift towards beyond modernist thinking means that it is assumed that
people are interdependent on one another for their future survival on earth, and that
people and nature are, in the same way, interdependent. Accepting interdependency
implies acceptance of 'multiplicity' and 'reciprocity'. This leads society to increasingly
expect that businesses should be socially engaged. In developing countries this
implies social development. This shift in society towards beyond modernist thinking is
echoed in social development discourse: through an an equal-status relationship
between benefactor and beneficiary beyond modernist social development enables
members of a developing community to develop themselves.
These shifts in social thinking and in the field of social development, has not matured
to the same extent in the practice and theory of businesses' social engagement to
address social development through public relations. The conceptual model
proposed in this study addresses this concern. The proposed conceptual model
formalises this shift in thinking on a theoretical/conceptual level, which indicates an
ecological business-society relationship where the business regards itself as being
part of society, where public relations should have a social orientation and where the
businesses' social engagement through public relations should be directed towards
the improvement of society. Based on this model, guidelines towards the practice of
businesses' social engagement to address social development through public
relations are deduced / Communication Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/2630 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Burger, Kobie-Marie |
| Contributors | Barker, Rachel, Du Plessis, Danie |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (237 leaves) |
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