pubic louse See human louse
Public Broadcasting Service See PBS public debt See national debt
public health Science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized community efforts. These include sanitation, control of contagious infections, hygiene education, early diag¬ nosis and preventive treatment, and adequate living standards. It requires understanding not only of epidemiology, nutrition, and antiseptic prac¬ tices but also of social science. Historical public health measures included quarantine of leprosy victims in the Middle Ages and efforts to improve sanitation following the 14th-century plague epidemics. Population increases in Europe brought with them increased awareness of infant
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1562 I public house ► Pucelle
deaths and a proliferation of hospitals. Britain’s Public Health Act of 1848 established a special public health ministry. In the U.S., public health is studied and coordinated on a national level by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; internationally, the World Health Organization plays an equivalent role.
public house or pub Establishment that serves alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, especially in Britain. Under English common law, inns and taverns were declared public houses responsible for the well-being of travelers. They were expected to receive all travel¬ ers in reasonable condition who were willing to pay for food, drink, and lodging. In Tudor England, certain innkeepers were obliged by royal act to maintain stables; others served as unofficial postmasters. The early public houses were identified by simple signs that featured creatures such as lions, dolphins, or swans. In the 18th century, the word Arms was added to many pub names to indicate that the establishment was under the pro¬ tection of a noble family. Though British public houses were traditionally owned and operated by independent licensed proprietors, by the early 20th century many were owned or associated with brewery companies.
public relations (PR) Aspect of communications that involves pro¬ moting a desirable image for a person or group seeking public attention. It originated in the U.S. in the early 20th century with pioneers such as Edward L. Bernays and Ivy Ledbetter Lee. Government agencies in Britain and the U.S. soon began hiring publicists to engineer support for their policies and programs, and the public-relations business boomed after World War II. Clients may include individuals such as politicians, per¬ formers, and authors, and groups such as business corporations, govern¬ ment agencies, charities, and religious bodies. The audience addressed may be as narrow as male alternative-music fans between the ages of 21 and 30 or as broad as the world at large. A publicist’s functions include generating favourable publicity and knowing what kind of story is likely to be printed or broadcast. The task is complicated by the variety of exist¬ ing media: besides newspapers, magazines, radio, and television, there are publications of professional associations, direct-mail lists, on-site promo¬ tional events, and so on. It consists largely of optimizing good news and forestalling bad news; if disaster strikes, the publicist must assess the situation, organize the client’s response so as to minimize damage, and marshal and present information to the media.
Public Safety, Committee of See Committee of Public Safety
public school or independent school In the United Kingdom, any of a small group of tuition-charging secondary schools that specialize in preparing students for university and for public service. The name public school dates from the 18th century, when the schools began attracting stu¬ dents from beyond their immediate environs and thus became “public” as opposed to local. Such schools are thus in fact private schools indepen¬ dent of the state system. Although many schools have become coeduca¬ tional, only boys attend the historically important schools Winchester (1394), Eton (1440-41), Westminster (1560), and Harrow (1571); well- known girls’ schools include Cheltenham (1853), Roedean (1885), and Wycomb Abbey (1896). Public schools cultivated a class-conscious code of behaviour, speech, and appearance that set the standard for British offi¬ cialdom from the early 19th century. See also secondary education.
public television See PBS
public transportation See mass transit
public utility Enterprise that provides certain classes of services to the public, including common-carrier transportation (buses, airlines, rail¬ roads); telephone and telegraph services; power, heat and light; and com¬ munity facilities for water and sanitation. In most countries such enterprises are state-owned and state-operated; in the U.S. they are mainly privately owned, but they operate under close regulation. Given the tech¬ nology of production and distribution, they are considered natural monopolies, since the capital costs for such enterprises are large and the existence of competing or parallel systems would be inordinately expen¬ sive and wasteful. Government regulation in the U.S., particularly at the state level, aims to ensure safe operation, reasonable rates, and service on equal terms to all customers. Some states have experimented with deregu¬ lation of electricity and natural-gas operations to stimulate price reduc¬ tions and improved service through competition, but the results have not been universally promising.
Public Works Administration U.S. government agency (1933-39). It was established as part of the New Deal to reduce unemployment
through the construction of highways and public buildings. Authorized by the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) and administered by Harold Ickes, it spent about $4 billion to build schools, courthouses, city halls, public-health facilities, and roads, bridges, dams, and subways. It was gradually dismantled as the country moved to a military-industrial economy during World War II.
Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) First of the U.S. federal art programs conceived as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression. Organized in 1933, it provided work to thousands of unemployed artists. PWAP projects (many of which were left unfinished) included some 7,000 easel paintings and watercolours, 1,400 murals and sculptures, 2,500 works of graphic art, and numerous other works designated to embellish nonfederal public buildings and parks. Prominent works include the murals in San Francisco’s Coit Memorial Tower, Grant Wood’s mural at Iowa State College, and Ben Shahn’s mural designs on the theme of Pro¬ hibition. Many projects left incomplete when the PWAP ended in 1934 were finished under the WPA Federal Art Project.
publishing Traditionally, the selection, preparation, and distribution of printed matter—including books, newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets. Contemporary publishing includes the production of materials in digital formats such as CD-ROMs, as well as materials created or adapted for electronic distribution. Publishing has evolved from small, ancient, and law- or religion-bound origins into a vast industry that disseminates every kind of information imaginable. In the modern sense of a copying indus¬ try supplying a lay readership, publishing began in Hellenistic Greece, in Rome, and in China. After paper reached the West from China in the 11th century, the central innovation in Western publishing was Johannes Guten¬ berg’s invention of movable type. In the 19th and 20th centuries, techno¬ logical advances, the rise of literacy and leisure, and ever-increasing information needs contributed to an unprecedented expansion of publish¬ ing. Contemporary challenges in publishing include attempts at censor¬ ship, copyright laws and plagiarism, royalties for authors and commissions for literary agents, competitive marketing techniques, pres¬ sures from advertisers affecting editorial independence, acquisition of independent publishing concerns by conglomerates, and the loss of read¬ ers to other media such as television and the Internet.