Public Relations and Responsibility: Pricklier Relations in Polarized Times

This chapter discusses the thoughts I had shared in my keynote address delivered at the 23rd annual congress of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), in Prague, Czech Republic in September 2023. In this address titled, “Public Relations & Responsibility: Pricklier Relations in Polarized Times,” I had pointed out tensions and stressors at the intersections of public relations and communicating responsibility, highlighting the further amplification of existing tensions as public relations attempts to articulate businesses' voice in society in polarized times. This chapter highlighted the drawbacks of current approaches to dealing with issues of communicating the societal responsibilities of business and proposed an alternative route to address these issues, primarily through refocusing attention on corporate purpose, mission, and values and by turning to the ancient philosophy of stoicism to guide corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.