The purpose of this paper is to respond to Coombs and Holladay’s (2012a) concern that textbooks have had a powerful and negative influence on public relations’ curricula because they have positioned public relations as a function of business, rather than as a field of knowledge and practice that plays an emancipatory role in society.,The paper is a diachronic, thematic analysis of public relations textbooks dating from 1981 to 2017. This methodology is valid because textbooks not only disseminate the knowledge base associated with a community of practice, but they are also influential legitimisers of curricula and bodies of knowledge.,The findings show that public relations textbooks are slowly evolving to include activist studies as a content area from both a strategic business perspective and a critical perspective.,The sample size is small but sufficient to indicate the beginnings of a trend. While the influence of textbooks on curricula is waning as students look beyond prescribed texts to a wider array of readings, they remain the most influential educational medium worldwide (Fuchs and Bock, 2018).,The paper calls for a greater inclusion of activist studies in contemporary public relations curricula to prepare practitioners for changes to the communications environment, as well as an opportunity for public relations to reposition itself as an emancipatory field of knowledge and practice.,Activism studies, as a curriculum field, provide a foundation for positioning public relations as an emancipatory practice.,The paper proposes that incorporating activism studies into public relations curricula is a way for public relations to reframe itself as a field of knowledge and practice that plays an emancipatory role in society.

中文翻译：

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公共关系教科书中不断变化的维权人士和维权人士的代表

样本量虽小，但足以指示趋势的开始。随着学生将目光从规定的文本转移到更广泛的阅读内容上，教科书对课程的影响逐渐减弱，但它们仍然是全球最具影响力的教育媒介（Fuchs和Bock，2018年）。当代的公共关系课程，为从业人员为适应交流环境的变化做好准备，同时也为公共关系提供了将自身重新定位为知识和实践的解放领域的机会。行动主义研究作为课程领域，为定位公共关系提供了基础作为解放的实践。