Public relations and historical sociology Historiography as reflexive critique》.pdf

Public Relations Review 40 (2014) 654–660 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Public Relations Review Public relations and historical sociology: Historiography as reflexive critique Jacquie L’Etang Queen Margaret University, Scotland a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The essay focuses on thinking about thinking about PR history. The space between history Received 6 September 2013 and sociology encompasses theoretical and conceptual frames and can be drawn upon to Received in revised form 2 December 2013 consider PR in time, across times and between times. It reflects upon the purposes and prac- Accepted 29 December 2013 tices of historical sociology and foregrounds themes relevant to public relations, its histories and methodological approaches. The paper, which is methodological at the strategic rather Keywords: than the technical level, argues that public relations historians can usefully engage with History theoretical issues and problems delineated in historical sociology and historical theory. Historiography Evolutionary, functionalist and typological approaches and the cultural logics of historical Historical sociology Models periodization are discussed and contextualized. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction This article aims to problematize the strategic choices and processes of historical wor