A "Public" by Any Other Name: Reclaiming Publics Theory, and Liberating Publics From "OPR"

The term public has perhaps the oldest theoretical tradition of any concept used in the public relations literature, yet it is also perhaps the most misunderstood. Given the widespread misuse of the term public, this chapter has three aims. First, the chapter provides a brief review of the theoretical heritage behind the concepts of the public and publics (plural). Second, it describes two general ontological orientations by which public relations scholars have conceptualized publics. Finally, the discussion challenges the organization-public relationships (OPR) literature by stating that OPR scholarship has inappropriately operationalized and measured publics in countless studies, meaning the implications of these studies for developing publics theory should be called into question.