Foucault und die Regierungskünste der Public Relations: Rezension zu Cory Wimberlys How Propaganda Became Public Relations

This article reviews Cory Wimberly's How Propaganda Became Public Relations: Foucault and the Corporate Government of the Public (2020). It follows Wimberly's efforts to uncover the mechanisms and effects of public relations, which lead deep into the archives of early 20[sup.th] century propaganda theory. Using not only Foucault's method of genealogy, but also drawing on Foucauldian theories of subjectification and government, Wimberly develops an innovative perspective on the workings of PR as well as a critical account on how to resist them. Keywords: propaganda, public relations, foucault, bernays, mass psychology, subjectification