Child accounting and ‘the handling of human souls’

Abstract

Child accounting texts published in the US during the early to mid-twentieth century are utilised to reveal the potency of Foucauldian analyses of accounting as a disciplinary technology. It is contended that child accounting-a voguish technique for recording, monitoring and governing the school pupil-provides a compelling illustration of Foucault's emphasis on individualization as a foundation for the exercise of disciplinary power. Further, child accounting encompassed mundane practices which could activate disciplinary power such as continuous hierarchical surveillance and normalizing judgment. Centred on the child in the place of instruction rather than the employee in the corporation, the study offers a socio-historical exploration of accounting at its margins and in a domain where Foucault's work on discipline has particular resonance.

Exploring accounting-sustainability hybridisation in the UK public sector

“…note that "hybridising is a continually inventive process, in which proliferation and multiplication is the norm" (p.961.). The creation of a new accounting hybrid does not only change the accounting processes and practices but can change "the other" (e.g., engineering, medicine, health and safety, research and development, marketing, medicine, teaching, risk management) and the wider societal context (Armstrong, 1994;Rahaman et al, 2007;Walker, 2010;Young, 1995). The adoption and implementation of a new accounting hybrid can substantively alter the organisation through both its governing and mediating potential.…”

Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century

“…Numerous studies have established how accounting itself becomes a disciplinary power, an integral part of a complex web of power-knowledge structures (Stewart, 1992) which helps to make people knowable and calculable, transforming them into "docile bodies" (Burchell et al, 1985;Hoskin and Macve, 1986Loft, 1986;Knights and Collinson, 1987;Miller and O'Leary, 1987;Fúnez, 2005;Walker, 2010). For authors embracing Foucault's concept of disciplinary power, accounting cannot be seen simply as a neutral tool aiming at economic rationality but instead is profoundly implicated in power relations produced in social life (Miller and O'Leary, 1987;Napier, 2006).…”

“…The two main themes of Foucault's thought that have particularly attracted accounting scholars are disciplinary power and governmentality, with the latter representing the rationality that underlies modern states (Lai et al, 2012) and pervades every political debate to the present day (McKinlay et al, 2010;Burchell et al, 1985;Hoskin and Macve, 1986Loft, 1986;Knights and Collinson, 1987;Miller and O'Leary, 1987;Fúnez, 2005;Walker, 2010). Although disciplinary power and governmentality have been given the greatest emphasis by accounting scholars, there are also works focusing on less studied aspects of Foucault's thought, for example Kosmala and McKernan's (2011) paper concerned with the implications of Foucault's work on our understanding of ethical behaviour.…”

Javanese Traditional Market Cultural Value in Accounting World

“…These accounting researches are Accounting and the construction of the standard house (Jeacle, 2003b); Accounting and the construction of the standard body (Jeacle, 2003a); Accounting and the Construction of Taste: Standard Labor Costs and the Georgian Cabinet-Maker (Jeacle, 2005); Face facts: accounting, feminism and the business of beauty (Jeacle, 2006); and Accounting and the annual general meeting: the case of the Edinburgh University Tea Club, 1920-45 (Jeacle, 2008). In addition to the Jeacle Ingrid studies, many other studies that make everyday life as the study of accounting, such as: From an envelope to a dream note and a computer-The award-winning experiences of post-war Japanese household accounting practices (Komori & Humphrey, 2000); How to secure your husband's esteem, Accounting and private patriarchy in the British middle class household during the Nineteenth Century (Walker, 1998); Child accounting and 'the handling of human souls' (Walker, 2010); and Accounting at home: some interdisciplinary perspectives (Walker & Llewellyn, 2000).…”