Public relations [ LCOMU2300 ]

The knowledge about the main theories concerning information and communication. The course LCOMU2310 Communications stratégiques des organisations is important to have basic notions about how to build a strategy of communication.

Definitions, specificities and main notions of public relations, from an international point of view. The history of public relations and of organizational communication. Scientific and critical approaches to public relations. Techniques and politics of public relations. The professional world of public relations. Corporate social responsibility and public relations. The ethics of public relations (in coordination with the course LCOMU2710 Ethique de la communication d'organisation). Public relations and the digital world.

At the end of the course, the student is able to: define the area of public relations; know and interpret the most important evolutions of theories and practices of public relations and of the different contemporary models of this discipline; interpret situations and interactions of public relations in scientific terms; know the history of public relations and organizational communication; ask ethical questions on the actions of public relations.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Evaluation methods are presented at the beginning of the course.

Introduction of concepts and examples. The course can include individual and collective research activities.

This course is aimed at introducing the student to a reflexive, scientific and critical approach to public relations. The course explains some analytical categories, and shows how to use them in order to analyze supports and concrete situations of public relations. The course includes the presentation of different definitions of public relations, the complexity of their history, and their ethical implications. It implies also the presentation of different scientific approaches to the analysis of public relations.

Les relations publiques, A. Catellani et C. Sauvajol-Rialland, Dunod, 2015; other texts are presented and distributed during the course.