Cultural Complexes in Professional Ethics

Professions predicated their ethics on idealized self-images and fail to engage with the shadow aspects of the occupational group, this paper argues. Ethical approaches emphasize rules and rationality, though more recently postcolonial and postmodern ethics have opened a space for a Jungian contribution. The paper conceptualizes professions as psychic entities, with an idealized persona, a disowned shadow and the potential for integration, suggesting this as an ethical foundation. Finally, it applies this approach to the emerging profession of public relations (PR). The research approach is hermeneutic, interpreting professional and public relations ethics through the lens of Jungian writing.