This special issue emerged from an ICA pre-conference on Theories in Public Relations, designed to explore the landscape of public relations theory in the current moment. The field of public relations has grown both academically and professionally over the last forty years, and it is now a specialised communication discipline where the most widespread understanding of public relations is primarily a strategic organizational function that nurtures positive relationships with publics and stakeholders for organizations of all kinds: private, public, non-profit, activist, and advocacy. For the first two decades of the field’s existence, theories that focused on the organizational roles of public relations – whether as an internal function that helps organizations to function more effectively, or a function that assists organizations to fulfil their social obligations shaped the vast majority of research in the field. They include Excellence theory and systems theory, but also relationship management, communitarian, rhetorical and dialogic approaches. Each body of work has led to important insights about organizations as instrumental communicators, relationship builders, rhetorical actors, and civil society agents. Over the last two decades, public relations scholarship has extended into other arenas, drawing on perspectives from new scholarly fields (e.g. digital media and network theory, political economy, cultural studies, institutional theory), but also extending its purchase on critical theory that was already in play (e.g. feminism, critical race theory, sociology of media, organizational communication). At the same time, critical analyses of PR that were previously located in the margins of the field have gained greater visibility (L’Etang, McKie, Snow, & Xifra, 2016). As a result, the theoretical landscape of public relations has expanded beyond its organizational origins and now incorporates a much richer range of starting points for multi-faceted analyses of public relations. The field is very much interdisciplinary and many studies are rooted in diverse communication, sociological, cultural, managerial, and organizational knowledge, adapted to public relations-focused inquiries. Despite increasing theoretical depth, however, recognition of the quality and significance of public relations’ theoretical contributions beyond the disciplinary domain remains limited. This may be because a universal understanding of the theoretical pillars on which the field is grounded is far from achieved. Arguably, to enjoy greater recognition and academic legitimacy, the theoretical contributions of public relations as a field in its own right must be able to both stand alone and contribute to fields beyond disciplinary boundaries. 881227 PRI0010.1177/2046147X19881227 editorial2019

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公共关系理论：反思与未来方向

这个特殊问题来自ICA关于公共关系理论的预会，旨在探讨当前公共关系理论的前景。在过去的四十年中，公共关系领域在学术和专业上都得到了发展，现在它是一门专门的传播学科，其中对公共关系的最广泛理解主要是一种战略性组织职能，旨在与公众和利益相关者建立积极的关系各种各样：私人，公共，非营利，激进主义者和倡导者。在该领域存在的前二十年中，理论侧重于公共关系的组织角色-是否作为帮助组织更有效地运作的内部职能，或协助组织履行社会义务的功能，构成了该领域的绝大多数研究。它们包括卓越理论和系统理论，还包括关系管理，社群主义，修辞学和对话方法。每个工作领域都对作为工具传播者，关系建立者，修辞演员和民间社会代理的组织产生了重要见解。在过去的二十年中，公共关系奖学金已扩展到其他领域，借鉴了新的学术领域的观点（例如，数字媒体和网络理论，政治经济学，文化研究，制度理论），但同时也扩展了对批评理论的购买力。已经发挥作用（例如女权主义，批判种族理论，媒体社会学，组织传播）。同时，对以前位于田间边缘的PR进行的批判分析获得了更大的知名度（L'Etang，McKie，Snow，＆Xifra，2016）。结果，公共关系的理论领域已经扩展到其组织起源之外，现在纳入了范围更广泛的起点，以进行公共关系的多方面分析。该领域是跨学科的，许多研究都根植于各种交流，社会学，文化，管理和组织知识，以适应针对公共关系的询问。尽管理论深度越来越大，但是，对纪律领域以外公共关系理论贡献的质量和重要性的认识仍然有限。这可能是因为远未达到对基于该领域的理论支柱的普遍理解。可以说，为了获得更大的认可和学术上的合法性，公共关系作为其自身领域的理论贡献必须既能够独立存在，又能够为超出学科界限的领域做出贡献。881227 PRI0010.1177 / 2046147X19881227社论2019