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Symbols in wood as a means of reciprocity: Accounting and social cohesion in pluralistic economies

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  • Forsberg, Per

Abstract

Neoliberalism rests on a fatalistic rhetoric about more perfect markets, individualistic calculus, and technologies for domination as crucial for the creation of financial value. This neglects any alternative ways of keeping people together, other than through markets, where the erosion of social cohesion is viewed as a natural effect of development. This neoliberal project has been holding accounting studies in a stranglehold, and there is a need for studies on how accounting can create social cohesion and make plural economies possible. This study’s exploration contributes to the theory of relational accounting practices by building a deeper understanding of accounting’s social function and the plurality of economies. Taking Graeber’s revision of Mauss as its starting point, it elaborates on how social relations are created through accounting practices that give rise to different reciprocities that involve morals together with autonomy and democracy, and it also examines when accounting may dissolve such social cohesion. Based on an illustrative case of pre-industrial farmers’ relational accounting practices in 18th- and 19th-century Sweden—consisting of notched wooden sticks used for balancing contributions and rights in the village—the study explains how accounting as a means of balanced reciprocity is important for social cohesion, having peacemaking functions, being important for democratic governance, teaching morality, and creating a sense of fairness. It emphasizes the relevance of Graeber’s revision of Mauss for a deeper understanding of relational accounting practices in certain contexts and as a way to combat the fatalism of neoliberalism.

Suggested Citation

  • Forsberg, Per, 2023. "Symbols in wood as a means of reciprocity: Accounting and social cohesion in pluralistic economies," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:96:y:2023:i:c:s1045235422001368
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102551
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