IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v22y2011i5p510-515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enlightenment and emancipation: Reflections for critical accounting research

Author

Listed:
  • Jacobs, Kerry

Abstract

Molisa (2011) offers a presentation of the work of Eckhart Tolle (1997, 2005) and a critique of critical and social accounting research, particularly the notion of emancipation. While taking issue with some of both Molisa (2011) and Tolle's (1997, 2005) arguments, I contend that their conclusions have some interesting implications. The religious traditions referenced by Tolle (1997, 2005) recognise a distinction between positive and negative theology. In effect our notions of what is real (and what is God) get in our way of understanding ‘what is’. A similar theme can be found in the ‘Transactional Analysis’ school of psychology and in the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu argues that institutions or fields (in his terminology) reflect the interests and values of the powerful and elite. Passive acceptance of these structures leads to repressive processes of symbolic violence. Emancipation requires both recognition of the taken-for-granted nature of values (habitus) and a willingness to change external structures and institutions (fields). In concluding, I argue that internal value change and external institutional change cannot be separated in a process of emancipation. However, in seeking ‘accounting and emancipation’ we must question our own values, assumptions and motives.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacobs, Kerry, 2011. "Enlightenment and emancipation: Reflections for critical accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 510-515.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:5:p:510-515
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2010.11.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104523541100027X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2010.11.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molisa, Pala, 2011. "A spiritual reflection on emancipation and accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 453-484.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Miley, Frances & Read, Andrew, 2021. "Suffer little children: Power, boundaries and the epistemology of ignorance in accounting for Church and State," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Beck, Cornelia & Lehman, Glen, 2014. "On Gray, Malpas, and Brennan's “The role of social accounts: Situating political ideas”," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 291-295.
    3. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim & Yonekura, Akira, 2013. "Further critical reflections on a contribution to the methodological issues debate in accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 191-206.
    4. O’Leary, Susan & Smith, David, 2020. "Moments of resistance: An internally persuasive view of performance and impact reports in non-governmental organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Crawford, Louise, 2019. "Exploring the emancipatory dimensions of globalisation: The struggle over IFRS8 and country-by-country reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Riaz, Umair & Burton, Bruce & Fearfull, Anne, 2023. "Emotional propensities and the contemporary Islamic banking industry," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    8. Kamla, Rania, 2015. "Critical Muslim intellectuals’ thought: Possible contributions to the development of emancipatory accounting thought," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 64-74.
    9. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2019. "Some reflections on the construct of emancipatory accounting: Shifting meaning and the possibilities of a new pragmatism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Lamberton, Geoffrey, 2015. "Accounting and happiness," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 16-30.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. McPhail, Ken, 2011. "A review of the emergence of post-secular critical accounting and a provocation from radical orthodoxy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 516-528.
    3. Kamla, Rania, 2015. "Critical Muslim intellectuals’ thought: Possible contributions to the development of emancipatory accounting thought," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 64-74.
    4. Lamberton, Geoffrey, 2015. "Accounting and happiness," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 16-30.
    5. Riaz, Umair & Burton, Bruce & Fearfull, Anne, 2023. "Emotional propensities and the contemporary Islamic banking industry," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Dillard, Jesse & Reynolds, MaryAnn, 2011. "Re-stor(y)ing social change," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 492-499.
    7. Elmassri, Moataz Moamen & Harris, Elaine Pamela & Carter, David Bernard, 2016. "Accounting for strategic investment decision-making under extreme uncertainty," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 151-168.
    8. Michaelson, Christopher, 2015. "Accounting for meaning: On §22 of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 54-64.
    9. Ghio, Alessandro & McGuigan, Nicholas & Powell, Lisa, 2023. "The Queering Accounting Manifesto," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2019. "Some reflections on the construct of emancipatory accounting: Shifting meaning and the possibilities of a new pragmatism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Miley, Frances & Read, Andrew, 2021. "Suffer little children: Power, boundaries and the epistemology of ignorance in accounting for Church and State," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Yasmin, Sofia & Ghafran, Chaudhry & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "Centre-staging beneficiaries in charity accountability: Insights from an Islamic post-secular perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Most. Mukta Khatun & & Md. Sagar Hossain, 2023. "Critical Accounting Theory: Unveiling Power Dynamics and Enhancing Accountability - An Empirical Study on Existing Literature," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 25(1), pages 106-116.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:22:y:2011:i:5:p:510-515. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.