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Public relations recruitment as boundary-making: the client, the ‘fit’ and the disposability of diversity

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Listed:
  • Edwards, Lee
  • Aulakh, Sundeep

Abstract

In this article we explore the ways in which specialist recruitment practices for the PR industry influence the pursuit of diversity in the profession. Drawing on interviews from an exploratory study of specialist PR recruitment in the UK, we combine Abbott’s theory of boundary-making between professional fields with existing research on the exclusionary dynamics of recruitment in professions, to explain how PR recruitment consolidates the focus on client and candidate ‘fit,’ and is likely to work in favour of preserving the dominance of middle-class, white and gendered identities in the profession. In this context, diversity is perceived as a risk rather than an opportunity and becomes a casualty of professional logic.

Suggested Citation

  • Edwards, Lee & Aulakh, Sundeep, 2024. "Public relations recruitment as boundary-making: the client, the ‘fit’ and the disposability of diversity," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120467, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:120467
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/120467/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew C G Cook & James R Faulconbridge & Daniel Muzio, 2012. "London's Legal Elite: Recruitment through Cultural Capital and the Reproduction of Social Exclusivity in City Professional Service Fields," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(7), pages 1744-1762, July.
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    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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