Atmosphere of measurement, consumable tools and the affective life of neoliberalism

IF 8.3 2区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Critical Perspectives on Accounting Pub Date : 2024-11-30 DOI:10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102767

Élodie Allain , Célia Lemaire , Gulliver Lux

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article examines the links between accounting tools, affects and neoliberalism. To explain how accounting tools participate in the affective life of neoliberalism, we conducted longitudinal qualitative research on the health and social care sector in Quebec and examined the links between accounting tools and affects in a context of a neoliberal reform. We use the concept of atmosphere − collective affects present in a given space − to address the collective and spatial dimensions of affects linked to accounting tools. Our study shows that the omnipresence of accounting tools in spaces nurtures the atmosphere of measurement presented here. In this atmosphere, tools are viewed as consumables that could be replaced by newer tools, whereas the idea of quantification, supported by feelings of hope, receives support and endures over time. Our paper calls for broader application of the concept of atmosphere to better understand the affective dimension of neoliberal society.

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来源期刊

Critical Perspectives on Accounting BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

9.40

自引率

7.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Critical Perspectives on Accounting aims to provide a forum for the growing number of accounting researchers and practitioners who realize that conventional theory and practice is ill-suited to the challenges of the modern environment, and that accounting practices and corporate behavior are inextricably connected with many allocative, distributive, social, and ecological problems of our era. From such concerns, a new literature is emerging that seeks to reformulate corporate, social, and political activity, and the theoretical and practical means by which we apprehend and affect that activity. Research Areas Include: • Studies involving the political economy of accounting, critical accounting, radical accounting, and accounting''s implication in the exercise of power • Financial accounting''s role in the processes of international capital formation, including its impact on stock market stability and international banking activities • Management accounting''s role in organizing the labor process • The relationship between accounting and the state in various social formations • Studies of accounting''s historical role, as a means of "remembering" the subject''s social and conflictual character • The role of accounting in establishing "real" democracy at work and other domains of life • Accounting''s adjudicative function in international exchanges, such as that of the Third World debt • Antagonisms between the social and private character of accounting, such as conflicts of interest in the audit process • The identification of new constituencies for radical and critical accounting information • Accounting''s involvement in gender and class conflicts in the workplace • The interplay between accounting, social conflict, industrialization, bureaucracy, and technocracy • Reappraisals of the role of accounting as a science and technology • Critical reviews of "useful" scientific knowledge about organizations