Despite coming from a world-famous, widely published sociologist and ethicist, Zygmunt Bauman’s thought has not significantly influenced scholarship on public relations. Although Bauman’s works indeed challenge classical theories of public relations, they also offer concepts that can reshape current understandings of how organisations interact with publics. Referring to Bauman’s social and ethical theory, in this article, I argue that amid the transition from solid to liquid modernity, the boundaries between public relations and other communications disciplines also become liquid and ultimately dissolve. As a consequence, experts from traditional disciplines within communications (e.g. public relations, marketing and corporate communications) increasingly compete with data engineers to influence publics, and in the process, their attempts at persuasive communication neglect moral considerations. In light of that dynamic, I contend that the recent data scandal involving Cambridge Analytica does not represent a false start but the dark future of digital communications management.

中文翻译：

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流动性现代中的公共关系：大数据和自动化如何导致道德失明

尽管齐格蒙特·鲍曼（Zygmunt Bauman）来自举世闻名的社会学家和伦理学家，该思想并没有显着影响公共关系领域的学术研究。尽管鲍曼的作品确实挑战了经典的公共关系理论，但它们也提供了可以重塑当前对组织与公众互动方式的理解的概念。在本文中，谈到鲍曼的社会和伦理理论，我认为，在从稳固的现代过渡到流动的现代性的过程中，公共关系和其他传播学科之间的界限也变得流动并最终消失。结果，来自沟通（例如公共关系，市场营销和公司沟通）领域的传统学科的专家越来越多地与数据工程师竞争，以影响公众，在此过程中，他们进行有说服力的交流的尝试忽略了道德考虑。鉴于这种动态，我认为最近涉及Cambridge Analytica的数据丑闻并不代表错误的开始，而是数字通信管理的光明前景。