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ish specific organisational goals, such as holding on to power (Botan and Taylor, 2004 ). The main objective of this approach is to help an organisation pursue its own interests by pushing out messages through the media that enhance the company's reputation and that of its products amongst the audiences receiving this information (Botan and Taylor, 2004).However, more recently a co-creational approach to PR theory has driven research and become the dominant industry paradigm, thus bringing into question how relevant or realistic Ihlen's power-based organisational approach (2007, 2009) is to the current field, something that needs further academic consideration.

This co-creational view of PR uses communication to 'help groups to negotiate meaning and build relationships' (Botan and Taylor, 2004, p. 652.) The key difference between this and the functional approach is that actors enter relationships with mutual benefit in mind rather than purely selfish gain. Not only is an organisation more likely to achieve their goals by working together with others in this way, the wants and needs of others matter in their own right (Botan and Taylor, 2004).

Such thinking it at the heart of many of the theories influencing PR theory and practice today, including stakeholder theory (Freeman 1984; Johnson and Scholes, 2002; Grunig and Repper, 1992); relationship management (Broom et al, 2000; Ledingham 2003; Ledingham and Bruning, 2000; Huang (2001), corporate social responsibility (Carroll 1991) and the Heath's Fully Functioning Society Theory (2006).

Recently a third approach to PR has emerged. Put forward by Taylor (2010), this sociological method builds on the co-creational thinking explained above, however, rather than focussing on the relationships that one organisation has with its publics, it suggests PR's greater role is to help people, groups, and organisations have desire and the ability to work together to better life for everyone. This is possible because individuals, social cause groups, societal institutions, media, business organisations, governance and international organisations each represent different citizen interests and by working together as partners they can shape, change, and sustain communities and societies and make the world a better place to live (Taylor 2010).

Both the sociological and co-creational approach to PR synthesises well with the social capital theory of Putman (2000) who was at pains to emphasise the value of relationships and social networks that build that same sense of community. These networks may be personal or organisational but like Taylor's PR approach above their influences are wider. By working successfully together on common agendas individual entities in the social network have a greater chance of achieving benefits for not only themselves and the others in the network but society as a whole (Putman 2000).

Although Putman did not apply the concept of PR to his work, he did note that communication is an intermediary for the creation of social capital and community. Since then Luoma-aho (2009) has been the key advocate for the application of Putman's work to PR, calling for the field of PR, including sub-disciplines such as stakeholder management, corporate social responsibility and relationship management, to be redefined as the practice of creating organisational social capital. This mean