IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v53y2018icp57-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foucault, governmentality, strategy: From the ear of the sovereign to the multitude

Author

Listed:
  • McKinlay, Alan
  • Pezet, Eric

Abstract

The idea of ‘strategy’ has a peculiar place in Michel Foucault’s work. On the one hand, he rarely discussed strategy directly, although it was an important element of his work, especially through the 1970s. We trace this development in Foucault’s thinking, and the specific place his changing conception of strategy played. Machiavelli, represented a shift towards governmentality, an infinitely more complex and open-ended notion of power than he had used before. We then turn to Tom Peters as a key figure in the emergence of new management thinking in the last three decades. If Peters initially spoke strategy to strategists, then over the two decades, he spoke to a constituency of subaltern strategists of how to transform the experience of organised working lives, an objective far beyond competitive advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • McKinlay, Alan & Pezet, Eric, 2018. "Foucault, governmentality, strategy: From the ear of the sovereign to the multitude," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 57-68.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:53:y:2018:i:c:p:57-68
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2017.03.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235417300291
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2017.03.005?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. Hélène Giroux, 2006. "‘It Was Such a Handy Term’: Management Fashions and Pragmatic Ambiguity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1227-1260, September.
    2. Chris Carter & Alan McKinlay, 2013. "Cultures of strategy: Remaking the BBC, 1968-2003," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1228-1246, October.
    3. Tyrone S. Pitsis & Stewart R. Clegg & Marton Marosszeky & Thekla Rura-Polley, 2003. "Constructing the Olympic Dream: A Future Perfect Strategy of Project Management," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(5), pages 574-590, October.
    4. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1987. "Accounting and the construction of the governable person," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 235-265, April.
    5. Alan McKinlay & Chris Carter & Eric Pezet & Stewart Clegg, 2010. "Using Foucault to make strategy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 1012-1031, October.
    6. Timothy Clark & Graeme Salaman, 1998. "Telling Tales: Management Gurus' Narratives and the Construction of Managerial Identity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 137-161, March.
    7. Julia Balogun & Claus Jacobs & Paula Jarzabkowski & Saku Mantere & Eero Vaara, 2014. "Placing Strategy Discourse in Context: Sociomateriality, Sensemaking, and Power," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 175-201, March.
    8. McKinlay, Alan & Pezet, Eric, 2010. "Accounting for Foucault," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 486-495.
    9. James Wilson & Alan McKinlay, 2010. "Rethinking the assembly line: Organisation, performance and productivity in Ford Motor Company, c. 1908-27," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 760-778.
    10. Alan McKinlay, 2013. "Banking, bureaucracy and the career: the curious case of Mr Notman," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 431-447, April.
    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. Franck Aggeri, 2021. "La gouvernementalité chez Foucault : une perspective sur l’instrumentation de gestion," Post-Print hal-03503256, HAL.
    2. Papi, Luca & Bigoni, Michele & Deidda Gagliardo, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2019. "Accounting for power and resistance: The University of Ferrara under the Fascist regime in Italy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 59-76.
    3. Faulconbridge, James R. & Muzio, Daniel, 2020. "Karl Polanyi on strategy: The effects of culture, morality and double-movements on embedded strategy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Vieira, Rui & Hoskin, Keith, 2024. "Re-thinking the ‘disciplinary’ power of accounting: A Foucauldian reading of how disciplinary accounting knowledge translates into managerial strategy in a Portuguese bank," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    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. Bigoni, Michele & Funnell, Warwick, 2015. "Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 160-176.
    2. Toms, Steven & Fleischman, Richard K., 2015. "Accounting fundamentals and accounting change: Boulton & Watt and the Springfield Armory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-20.
    3. Thomson, Ian & Grubnic, Suzana & Georgakopoulos, Georgios, 2014. "Exploring accounting-sustainability hybridisation in the UK public sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 453-476.
    4. Papi, Luca & Bigoni, Michele & Deidda Gagliardo, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2019. "Accounting for power and resistance: The University of Ferrara under the Fascist regime in Italy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 59-76.
    5. Nikidehaghani, Mona & Cortese, Corinne & Hui-Truscott, Freda, 2021. "Accounting and pastoral power in Australian disability welfare reform," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Spence, Laura J. & Rinaldi, Leonardo, 2014. "Governmentality in accounting and accountability: A case study of embedding sustainability in a supply chain," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 433-452.
    7. Bigoni, Michele & Antonelli, Valerio & Cafaro, Emanuela Mattia & D'Alessio, Raffaele & Funnell, Warwick, 2020. "Accounting for the ‘deviant’ in 19th century Italian prisons," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Inès Dhaouadi & Jacques Igalens, 2016. "Les études critiques en comptabilité des entreprises : l’apport de la perspective foucaldienne [Les études critiques en comptabilité des entreprises : l'apport de la perspective foucaldienne]," Post-Print hal-01856797, HAL.
    9. Vijaya Murthy & Jim Rooney, 2018. "The Role of Management Accounting in Ancient India: Evidence from the Arthasastra," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 323-341, October.
    10. Sonia Adam-Ledunois & Sébastien Damart, 2016. "Innovation managériale… ou pas ? Design d'une méthodologie d'analyse critique des objets de management," Post-Print hal-01780623, HAL.
    11. Carlotta del Sordo & Massimo Fornasari & Rebecca L. Orelli, 2021. "Power and Discipline: The Role of Accounting in the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna between 18th and 19th Centuries," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(7), pages 1-93, July.
    12. Franck Aggeri, 2021. "La gouvernementalité chez Foucault : une perspective sur l’instrumentation de gestion," Post-Print hal-03503256, HAL.
    13. Vieira, Rui & Hoskin, Keith, 2024. "Re-thinking the ‘disciplinary’ power of accounting: A Foucauldian reading of how disciplinary accounting knowledge translates into managerial strategy in a Portuguese bank," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Jeacle, Ingrid & Carter, Chris, 2023. "Calorie accounting: The introduction of mandatory calorie labelling on menus in the UK food sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    15. Baños, Juan & Funnell, Warwick, 2024. "Accounting for the liberal State and the Spanish seizure process of 1855," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Brivot, Marion & Gendron, Yves, 2011. "Beyond panopticism: On the ramifications of surveillance in a contemporary professional setting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 135-155, April.
    17. Marc Nikitin & Jean-Baptiste Capgras & Dragos Zelinschi, 2017. "Dynamiques de la gouvernementalité : concurrence et calcul des coûts dans le système de santé français," Post-Print hal-01907396, HAL.
    18. Giovanna Centorrino, 2021. "The complex power dynamics within a health care institution during the 15th and 18th centuries. The case of the Great and New Hospital of Palermo," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 11-59.
    19. Harney, Stefano & Dunne, Stephen, 2013. "More than nothing? Accounting, business, and management studies, and the research audit," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 338-349.
    20. Bento da Silva, Jose & Llewellyn, Nick & Anderson-Gough, Fiona, 2017. "Oral-aural accounting and the management of the Jesuit corpus," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 44-57.

    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:53:y:2018:i:c:p:57-68. 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.