Privileging Identity, Difference, and Power: The Circuit of Culture As a Basis for Public Relations Theory

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Abstract
In response to growing criticism that the dominant normative theoretical paradigm privileges Western, corporate models of public relations practice, this critical essay proposes the circuit of culture as a basis for developing public relations theory that informs the wide variety of public relations practices found globally. The model merges recent critical-cultural and postmodern perspectives, providing a confluence of institutional and situated factors that recognize the primacy of identity, difference, and power in discursive practice. In this model, public relations practitioners serve as cultural intermediaries operating within the larger cultural economy to structure information at the juncture of production and consumption.