Tony Tinker

THE ROLE OF ANNUAL REPORTS IN GENDER AND CLASS CONTRADICTIONS AT GENERAL MOTORS: 1917-1976.

Abstract This paper argues that studies of female exploitation frequently pay too little attention to the broader social context; particularly alienation and crises in the development of late capitalism. This criticism applies with equal force to the domestic labor/housework studies and labor process studies and labor process studies where male domination is often advanced as the primary explanatory variable in accounting for female oppression. Even where labor process researchers have emphasized mediating affects on partiarchial influences (technology and control processes for instance; c.f. Milkman, Politics and Society , pp. 159–203, 1983), we argue that the broader context of alienated capitalist social relations is frequently understated. Female subordination under capitalism is traced to two primary sources in this study: First, that part of the labor process where the existence of female labor facilitates surplus value appropriation by playing the part of an “industrial reserve army” (sometimes “latent”, at other times “floating”). Second, in times of overproduction and underconsumption, capital has invented a consumerist ideology about women to help resolve its crisis of realizing surplus value. Only by seeing these different instances of female oppression as part of a larger, mutually reinforcing configuration of “instances” — emanating from capitalist social relations — are we likely to begin to adequately comprehend the resilience of social ideology concerning women and develop effective political and social counter-strategies. In this research, the above considerations are explored using evidence from a longitudinal study of General Motors where the annual reports are used to monitor the evolution of managerial ideology vis-a-vis women over some sixty years. We see in this study how the manner of womens exploitation changes with changes in the crises facing capitalism. The implications of the study are severalfold: Firwt, we see how a socially “unreflective” view of “management” and “management control systems” may lead to practices that are oppressive and exploitative. Second, we find “the labor process” to be an important but insufficient conceptual terrain for understanding womens oppression; instead we propose that the starting point of any analysis should be capitalist alienation. Third, this work has implications for the various controversies about class essentialism and the primacy of class. (Wright, New Left Review , pp. 11–36, 1983; Giddens, Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis , 1979; Miliband, New Left Review , pp. 57–68, 1983; Tinker, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy , pp. 1–20, 1984). as well as the relation between male domination and class oppression (Fox-Genovese, New Left Review , pp. 5–29, 1982, Goldelier, New Left Review , pp. 3–17, 1981) in that it examines the interplay between class and other forms of domination. Lastly, we see how annual reports may contribute to a general “world view” that aids social appropriation and domination.

Falling down the Hole in the Middle of the Road: Political Quietism in Corporate Social Reporting

This article critiques “middle‐of‐the‐road” approaches to corporate social reporting and their cautions against radicalising the subject. The historicity of the concept of middle ground is challenged philosophically, politically and socially, by suggesting that its foundations reside in relativism, quietism and pluralism. A counter‐theory is proposed: that the middle ground is a contested terrain that shifts over time with social struggles and conflicts. This proposition is supported by a periodisation analysis of five theoretical themes or trends in the last 30 years of US social responsibility accounting: the Brilovian Critique, the Caring Society Critique, the Caring Market Critique, the Market Re‐regulation Critique, and the Radical Critique. Even if adherence to the middle ground is deemed desirable, it requires a social analysis of the concrete circumstances of each period – today′s middle ground cannot be extrapolated into the future.

The "real" cultural significance of accounts

Abstract Typically, accounting is portrayed as a passive information service, dedicated to faithfully reporting on economic reality. This paper, in contrast, investigates the re-presentional aspects of accounting, and the part it plays as a symbolic, cultural and hegemonic force, in struggles over the distribution of social income. The issues are examined empirically through the publishing patterns of the Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Review, and Fortune magazine between 1960 and 1973. Chronicling the changes in accounting literature is not our primary concern however. Rather, this work explores the relationships between accounting discourses and the conditions of social conflict in which these discourses are embedded. The evidence suggests that: different accounting journals specialize in different rhetorical functions; that these functions are discharged in harmony with other media and cultural forces (data on Fortunes discursive practices is provided for comparison); and that, over time, the discursive roles of accounting journals change with the evolving hegemonic climate. This paper contends that viewing accounting literature as disinterested inquiry or rigorous scholarship understates the social origins of research. Instead, we suggest that discursive accounting practices are more productively regarded as ideological weapons for participating in conflicts over the distribution of social wealth.

Beyond a critique of pure reason: From policy to politics to praxis in environmental and social research

Sustainability – in the sense of a system of deep‐rooted social justice and a fair and responsible allocation and use of ecological resources – requires a political philosophy adequate to its unique task in effecting change. Traditional Cartesian epistemes, that rely on formalistic policy declarations and which appeal to morality, are seen as inadequate without a rigorous historical and politically informed praxis, wherein our own cognitive, spiritual, and aesthetic development is seen as integral to developing processes “out there”. Several examples of attempts to form organic ties are provided to illustrate the use of praxis as a methodology of intervention.

Panglossian accounting theories: The science of apologising in style☆

Abstract Dr. Panglosss comment about, “the best of all possible worlds”, is widely remembered, but what we tend to forget is how unpleasant his world really is. Candides life is marred by pillage, murder, rape, war, torture and natural disasters. The only relief Voltaire provides Candide after each disaster is a bizzare re-iteration of Panglosss absurd refrain that, “this must be the best of all possible worlds”. Voltaires Candide warns us about scholarly self-deception and wishful thinking. This warning extends to theorizing about large organizations and corporate accountability: that monopolistic and oligopolistic elements may be underplayed: that the disciplining effect of market competition may be overrated; that managerial self-aggrandizement may be idealized as entrepreneurial heroics, and that research may be trivialized in the quest for objective results and tractable theories. This paper uses Agency Theory and Transaction Cost Theory to spell out the dangers of Panglossian theorizing. It rejects the notion that theories are dispassionate reflections of reality; instead, it views them as materialistically grounded in social conflict — as intellectual terrains on which social interests struggle to re -present and control their realities. In focussing on Agency and Transactional Cost Theory, three types of re-presentational distortion are considered here: those emanating from failing to acknowledge the constituitive potential of theorizing (stressing instead its natural and law-like character); those arising from overstating the empirical validity of theories, and those emerging from neglecting the interests that benefit from research. The implications of the paper are analogous to lessons that Voltaire teaches us through Dr. Pangloss: we may pay a high price if we listen to “simplifying assumptions” and “analytic approaches” of the Panglosss of accounting thought. Their intellectual pollyannaism frequently promotes social causes that, after some reflection, we might prefer to dissociate ourselves from. Only by explicating the social underpinnings of accounting practices — contemporaneously and historically — and by investigating the social allegiances of different forms of theorizing, do we give ourselves the opportunity of such social self-awareness.

The withering of criticism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the core meaning of critical research.Design/methodology/approach – It begins by noting the frequent divergence between “Real” history (which always marches to its own beat) and academic reflection that often fails to follow the beat of a progressive drum. Indeed, rather than facilitating a productive historical movement, scholarship may, at times, window‐dress brutality. These questions are examined by drawing on pertinent literature in social theory and cultural analysis. This work cautions that only continuous, unconditional, self‐reflective criticism provides a navigational path between barbarism and enlightenment. It proposes harnessing our full repository of critical scholarship to renew ever‐relevant forms of praxis (This is not the same notion of “practical” that involves berating workers in suits and white shirts.)Findings – Unfortunately, an examination of contemporary progressive accounting literature exposes fundamental departures from these st...

The Enlightenment and its discontents

Capitalism, religion and science (including calculative sciences such as accounting) have a long and turbulent relationship that, today, is manifest in the “War on Terror”. As social ideologies, religion and science have played a sometimes decisive influence in the history of capitalism. What can one learn from these past encounters to better understand their relationship today? This paper explores the historical origins of this relationship as a struggle over the ideals of the Enlightenment: – as decline of the modern and the rise of the postmodern. The paper begins by tracing the evolution of Christianities and their different potentials in both resisting and accommodating the extant social order. Islam, in contrast, has,until recently, enjoyed a relatively sheltered existence from capitalism, and today, some factions present a militant stance against the market and the liberal democratic state. Overall, the Enlightenment and modernist projects are judged to be jeopardy – a condition fostered by orthodox economics and accounting ideology, where it is now de rigueur to divide the secular from the non‐secular, the normative from the positive, and the ethical from the pragmatic or realist. Finally, the mechanisms behind this Enlightenment regression are examined here using literary analysis, as a modest prelude to developing a new politics for a progressive accounting; one that seeks to restore the integrity and probity of the Enlightenment Ideal.

A mind is a wonderful thing to waste: “think like a commodity”, become a CPA

Technical excess in accounting education has always been a source of discontent among educational reformers, however, two recent developments have rendered these deficiencies even more acute. First, intensified competition for traditional audit services has resulted in an increasingly inhospitable job market for accounting students. Second, predatory practices by educational, professional, and recruiting institutions have compounded the unpredictability and risk in career planning for accounting students. Explores how commercial interests and professional rivalries have settled on a technical education that produces students who are docile and compliant, sometimes bewildered and confused, and generally ill‐prepared for engaging the complexities of the changing job market. Concludes that radical changes in CPA education are needed ‐ specifically, a greater appreciation of the profession’s historical and sociological background ‐ if students are to navigate their careers intelligently.

Politics of managing: the dialectic of control

Abstract Accounting influences the evolution of management identity by determining which aspects of performance are made visible. However, management do not technocratically apply accounting measurements. An organizational study is used to analyze how management use partisan performance measurements to control the labor process. Managements strategies are influenced by how technology, worker skill, and product competition affect worker capacity to resist. Managements dilution of capitals interest by accommodating labors needs, or mobilization of the efficiency ethos, reflect the politics of dialectical control.

Hamlet without the prince: the ethnographic turn in information systems research

Computer based accounting information systems (AIS) have been a major force behind the current wave of corporate downsizing and reengineering (Deloitte & Touche LLP, 1996). While greater economy and competitiveness is typically associated with these changes, conventional AIS literature usually eschews a counter‐hypothesis: that this new technology may also degrade both the quality and quantity of work, and therefore people’s working lives. The advent of Accounting, Management, and Information Technologies in 1991, with an espoused aim of “critically analyzing the relationships among our information systems designs, the qualities of our social and economic life, and our practices of management and control” (Boland and O’Leary, 1991, p. 2) presents a major opportunity to redress this deficiency. This paper reviews the journal’s inaugural issue and ancillary literature to assess its likely contribution. This literature is found to lack a sufficient appreciation of the social and historical context of AIS developments and thus compromises the new journal’s ability to achieve its espoused aims. The paper calls for a better understanding of the upheavals currently under way in the accounting workplace and ways in which AIS technology (and ethnographers) may compound these instabilities. A different kind of ethnographic research is called for: one capable of recognizing the dysfunctionalities of AIS‐induced downsizing and restructuring, and more politically and socially self‐aware of AIS agency in social and technological change.