Where Public Interest, Virtue Ethics and Pragmatic Sociology Meet: Modelling a Socially Progressive Approach for Communication. (31st July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnston, Jane
• Is Part Of: Westminster papers in communication and culture. Volume 15:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 79
• Page End: 94
• Publication Date: 2020-07-31
• Subjects: Public interest -- virtue ethics -- public arenas -- communication -- pragmatism -- advertising -- public relations; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Communication in politics -- Periodicals; 302.23
• DOI: 10.16997/wpcc.355
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1744-6716

Abstract

For advertising, public relations and strategic communication to work towards human good they must have a framework. This paper advances such a theoretical framework by drawing on three related but separate fields of theory: public interest from political philosophy; virtue ethics from moral philosophy; public arenas of debate from pragmatic sociology. By exploring these as stand-alone theories and then examining their cross-currents and intersections, the paper develops a pragmatic approach for communication scholarship which can be used as a conceptual intervention for socially progressive practice. The paper applies this approach to the case of two international festivals: The Torches of Freedom contribution to New York's 1929 annual Easter Parade; and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras held in Sydney from 1978 to the present. The festivals illustrate how the discursive construction (and reconstruction) of events underpins both changing circuits of cultural production and ongoing dialectical tensions, raising challenges and solutions for professional communication practice.