printPublic Relations:
Professional Associations and Their Impact on the PR-Sphere
Аbramov R.N.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia socioportal@yandex.ru
This article was prepared as part of the Academic Fund Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2019–21 (№ 19-01-029) and by the Russian Academic Excellence Project “5–100”.
Аbramov R.N. Public Relations: Professional Associations and Their Impact on the PR-Sphere. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2020. No 11. P. 96-106
This article is devoted to the analysis of the establishment of professional associations in the field of PR in Russia in the context of the professionalization of this field in the post-Soviet space. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is the critical ecology of the profession, which allows you to cover different levels of life of professional groups. The empirical basis of the work was interviews with representatives of the PR profession and publications on the websites of professional associations of this segment of the industry of influence. The first part of the article analyzes the existing studies of the PR profession in post-Soviet countries and concludes that the professionalization of public relations in Russia is insufficiently studied. Further, the state of professional associations in the field of PR is described. Fragmentation and weakness of these associations are noted, including a decrease in the role of the first major association of the Russian Association for Public Relations, created in 1991. It is noted that a similar situation exists with the relatively weak influence of professional associations on the life of communities characteristic of other new professions that appeared in the twentieth century. Also in Russia, the role of trade unions is traditionally weak.
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