HSEM2043H: Finding the Corporate Soul: Corporate advocacy, social responsibility, and community engagement

As the corporation has replaced government and the church as the dominant social institution in the industrialized world, the use of organizational advocacy as a means of persuasion has predictably increased. One reason for this increase is that stakeholders expect and demand corporations act in accordance with social and cultural norms. Advocacy messages provide organizations with a tool for promoting change, forming attitudes, and furthering dialogue about substantive issues. By engaging in advocacy, organizations enter into a public dialogue about issues that it views as significant in the realization of its goals and objectives. This seminar seeks to answer questions such as: What contribution does organizational advocacy make to public dialogue? How does corporate advocacy represent the goals and needs of the organization and society? What are the social implications of organizational advocacy? Our goal is to understand organizational advocacy beyond a single issue, campaign, or corporation. To achieve our goal, we will examine a variety of communication theories and international, national, and Minnesota-based campaigns.

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