Role-Taking: an important public relations process

Abstract

Relationship building and maintenance are important concerns of public relations today. Two important streams of research – on public relations roles and on relationship quality – play an important part in the study of this realm. To date, these steams have focused on end products of role-taking while paying scant attention to the processes leading to those ends. Drawing on the literature of symbolic interactionism, this paper proposes increased focus on seven dimensions of role-taking as process in light of such current concerns as religion/political extremism and the “permanent campaign” in politics.