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The Public Relations Practitioner As Cultural Intermediary

The public relations practitioner as cultural intermediary.
Author: Cornelis A. Coetzee
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Literature review 3
3. Theoretical approach 3
3.1 Theoretical perspective 3
3.2 Research approach 4
3.2.1 Interpretive approach 5
3.2.1.1 Hermeneutics as a metatheory 6
4. Postmodernism, globalization and culture in communication: a brief discussion 6
4.1 Postmodern communication 6
4.2 Globalization and communication 7
4.3 Multi-cultural communication 8
4.3.1 Culture and cultural identities 8
5. Conclusion 11
6. Recommendation 12
Bibliography 12
List of figures
Figure 1: Lull’s superculture 11
List of tables
Table 1: Functionalism, Conflict and Symbolic Interactionism Theories 3
Table 2: Hall’s high and low context culture 9

1. Introduction
Sir William L. Bragg said, “The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.” (http://www.quotelady.com/subjects/science.html). Although this quotation is open to much discussion, it seems appropriate when debating the topic of non-Western public relations practice in which the practitioner is acting as a cultural intermediary. This implicates that public relations as a science, and in practice, needs to re-examine its approach towards the publics (organizational and social) in which it functions.
But why? Is it merely the foundation for another approach to research the practice of public relations, or does it perhaps hold the core essence of public relations practice in a post-modern ideology?
The first and most obvious answer is globalization. The term globalization is simplified by Smith & Smith (2002:Online) as “a shorthand way of describing the spread and connectedness of production, communication and technologies across the world. That spread has involved the interlacing of economic and cultural activity”.
This brings the student to the second aspect to answer the questions posed,...