A theory of corporate responsibility to race (CRR): communication and racial justice in public relations

ABSTRACT

This article introduces the theory of the corporate responsibility to race (CRR). It holds that corporations should communicate in ways that advocate for racial justice, attempt to improve race relations, and support achieving a more equitable and harmonious society. Corporations have this responsibility to race because they have historically perpetuated and profited from racial oppression, making corporations contributors to, and benefactors of, racial injustice. However, recently corporations have been using their platforms to speak against racial injustice in an effort to improve race relations. CRR theory provides a new way to readily identify, understand, contextualize, theorize and analyze corporate communication about race. Although CRR emerges from a Unites States perspective, and as a public relations concept, it has global applications in any place where racial difference leads to oppression, and it has analytical value in any field where organizational resources can be leveraged to fight oppression.

KEYWORDS:

• Corporate responsibility to race
• critical race theory
• corporate social responsibility
• corporate social advocacy
• CEO activism
• race in the marketplace

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I view public relations as encompassing corporate communication, which I characterize broadly as statements, messages, campaigns, and other forms of communication and action from corporate organizations. Thus, at times, the terms public relations and corporate communication are used interchangeably in this article. See Roberts-Bowman and Walker (2021).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Niles Research Grant.