IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v77y2021ics1045235420300356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Debt, accounting, and the transformation of individuals into financially responsible neoliberal subjects

Author

Listed:
  • Gilbert, Christine

Abstract

Building on Lazzarato’s (2012, 2015) insights about the importance of debt in governing populations in financialised neoliberal societies, this paper examines the transportation loan provided by Canada to refugees to travel to the country, and the role of the accounting department of the Canadian immigration agency in responsibilising refugees to reimburse this loan. Drawing on official documentation and historical data, and focusing on individuals’ lived experiences and biographies captured through in-depth interviews with refugees, this paper demonstrates that by imposing financial obligations to repay transportation costs, the government, with the help of non-governmental organisations, financialises and ‘responsibilises’ individuals, who develop micro-accounting skills throughout the process. The paper contributes to the accounting literature on responsibilisation in neoliberal societies by showing the way in which debt, and its accompanying accounting practices, leads people to become ‘more financially responsible’, while at the same time defining the very meaning of ‘financial responsibility’. By focusing on individuals’ lived experiences, the paper sheds light on some of the means by which accounting shapes people’s subjectivity and supports the construction of the neoliberal subject. Notably, this paper demonstrates that the vagueness, inaccuracy, or absence of accounting information responsibilises individuals via the emotions that these features generate. Importantly, the paper contributes to recent efforts to investigate the role of accounting in people’s everyday lives, a fruitful way to extend and reinvigorate accounting literature seeking to better understand the increasingly invasive role of accounting in our societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilbert, Christine, 2021. "Debt, accounting, and the transformation of individuals into financially responsible neoliberal subjects," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:77:y:2021:i:c:s1045235420300356
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235420300356
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102186?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. Bino Catasús & Paolo Ferri & Sofi von Laskowski, 2016. "Accounting and the Hope of Action," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 403-419, June.
    2. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    3. Cooper, Christine & Graham, Cameron & Himick, Darlene, 2016. "Social impact bonds: The securitization of the homeless," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 63-82.
    4. Guénin-Paracini, Henri & Malsch, Bertrand & Paillé, Anne Marché, 2014. "Fear and risk in the audit process," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 264-288.
    5. Harney, Nicholas DeMaria, 2011. "Accounting for African migrants in Naples, Italy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 644-653.
    6. Junne, Jaromir, 2018. "Enabling accountability: An analysis of personal budgets for disabled people," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 46-62.
    7. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-2, May.
    8. Dyball, Maria Cadiz & Rooney, Jim, 2019. "Governing and disciplining Filipino migrant workers’ health at Hawaiian sugar plantations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Power, Michael, 1992. "After calculation? Reflection on critique of economic reason by Andre Gorz," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 477-499, July.
    10. Andon, Paul & Free, Clinton, 2012. "Auditing and crisis management: The 2010 Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 131-154.
    11. Andrew, Jane & Kaidonis, Mary A. & Andrew, Brian, 2010. "Carbon tax: Challenging neoliberal solutions to climate change," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 611-618.
    12. Maltby, Josephine Anne, 2014. "Bringing back Thrift Week: Neo-liberalism and the rediscovery of thrift," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 115-127.
    13. Beverungen, Armin & Hoedemaekers, Casper & Veldman, Jeroen, 2014. "Charity and finance in the university," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 58-66.
    14. Pelger, Christoph, 2016. "Practices of standard-setting – An analysis of the IASB's and FASB's process of identifying the objective of financial reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 51-73.
    15. Chiapello, Eve, 2017. "Critical accounting research and neoliberalism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 47-64.
    16. Annisette, Marcia & Trivedi, Viswanath Umashanker, 2013. "Globalization, paradox and the (un)making of identities: Immigrant Chartered Accountants of India in Canada," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-29.
    17. Jeacle, Ingrid & Walsh, Eamonn J., 2002. "From moral evaluation to rationalization: accounting and the shifting technologies of credit," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 737-761, November.
    18. Bujaki, Merridee L. & Gaudet, Stéphanie & Iuliano, Rosa M., 2017. "Governmentality and identity construction through 50 years of personal income tax returns: The case of an immigrant couple in Canada," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 54-74.
    19. Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Post-Print hal-03470535, HAL.
    20. Haynes, Kathryn, 2010. "Other lives in accounting: Critical reflections on oral history methodology in action," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 221-231.
    21. Czarniawska, Barbara, 2008. "Humiliation: A standard organizational product?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1034-1053.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6cbt691h0h8o9q5rf0apko0pda is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Dean Neu, 2012. "Accounting and Undocumented Work," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 13-37, March.
    24. Morales, Jérémy & Gendron, Yves & Guénin-Paracini, Henri, 2014. "State privatization and the unrelenting expansion of neoliberalism: The case of the Greek financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 423-445.
    25. 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.
    26. Bay, Charlotta & Catasús, Bino & Johed, Gustav, 2014. "Situating financial literacy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 36-45.
    27. Power, Michael, 2013. "The apparatus of fraud risk," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 525-543.
    28. Barthold, Charles & Dunne, Stephen & Harvie, David, 2018. "Resisting financialisation with Deleuze and Guattari: The case of Occupy Wall Street," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 4-16.
    29. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1994. "Accounting and everyday life: An introduction," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 299-301, April.
    30. Rose, Nikolas, 1991. "Governing by numbers: Figuring out democracy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 673-692.
    31. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 14-24.
    32. Alawattage, Chandana & Graham, Cameron & Wickramasinghe, Danture, 2019. "Microaccountability and biopolitics: Microfinance in a Sri Lankan village," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 38-60.
    33. Lohmann, Larry, 2009. "Toward a different debate in environmental accounting: The cases of carbon and cost-benefit," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 499-534, April.
    34. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 109-110, August.
    35. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony & Hughes, John & Nahapiet, Janine, 1980. "The roles of accounting in organizations and society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 5-27, January.
    36. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    37. Sargiacomo, Massimo & Ianni, Luca & Everett, Jeff, 2014. "Accounting for suffering: Calculative practices in the field of disaster relief," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 652-669.
    38. Jeacle, Ingrid & Carter, Chris, 2011. "In TripAdvisor we trust: Rankings, calculative regimes and abstract systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 293-309.
    39. Bay, Charlotta, 2011. "Framing financial responsibility: An analysis of the limitations of accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 593-607.
    40. Berry, A. J. & Capps, T. & Cooper, D. & Ferguson, P. & Hopper, T. & Lowe, E. A., 1985. "Management control in an area of the NCB: Rationales of accounting practices in a public enterprise," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 3-28, January.
    41. Fourcade, Marion & Healy, Kieran, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 559-572.
    42. Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2013. "Adding critical accounting voices to migration studies," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 261-272.
    43. Cheryl Lehman & Marcia Annisette & Gloria Agyemang, 2016. "Immigration and neoliberalism: three cases and counter accounts," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1), pages 43-79, January.
    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. Grisard, Claudine, 2023. "Time, workload model and the entrepreneurial construction of the neoliberal academic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Nappert, Pier-Luc & Plante, Maude, 2023. "The assetization of baseball players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    3. Willows, Gizelle D. & October, Charnè, 2023. "Perceptions of retirement savings: Through the lens of Black amaXhosa women in South Africa," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Gilbert, Christine & Guénin, Henri, 2024. "The COVID-19 crisis and massive public debts: What should we expect?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Gilbert, Christine & Everett, Jeff & de Castro Casa Nova, Silvia Pereira, 2024. "Patriarchy, capitalism, and accounting: A herstory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Costa, Massimo & Coronella, Stefano & Valenza, Giuseppe & D'Andreamatteo, Antonio, 2024. "Accounting paradigms and neoliberalism. A Gramscian interpretative analysis of the evolution of the asset-liability view and revenue-expense view in Italy and the United States (1891–1991)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Graham, Cameron & Himick, Darlene & Nappert, Pier-Luc, 2024. "The dissipation of corporate accountability: Deaths of the elderly in for-profit care homes during the coronavirus pandemic," 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. Bujaki, Merridee L. & Gaudet, Stéphanie & Iuliano, Rosa M., 2017. "Governmentality and identity construction through 50 years of personal income tax returns: The case of an immigrant couple in Canada," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 54-74.
    2. Sendirella George & Erin Twyford & Farzana Aman Tanima, 2024. "Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Asylum Seekers: the Silencing of Accounting and Accountability in Offshore Detention Centres," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(4), pages 861-885, November.
    3. Nappert, Pier-Luc & Plante, Maude, 2023. "The assetization of baseball players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    4. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Lehman, Cheryl R. & Hammond, Theresa & Agyemang, Gloria, 2018. "Accounting for crime in the US: Race, class and the spectacle of fear," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 63-75.
    6. Dyball, Maria Cadiz & Rooney, Jim, 2019. "Governing and disciplining Filipino migrant workers’ health at Hawaiian sugar plantations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Grisard, Claudine, 2023. "Time, workload model and the entrepreneurial construction of the neoliberal academic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    8. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    9. Cameron Graham & Martin E. Persson & Vaughan S. Radcliffe & Mitchell J. Stein, 2023. "The State of Ohio’s Auditors, the Enumeration of Population, and the Project of Eugenics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 565-587, October.
    10. Kornberger, Martin & Pflueger, Dane & Mouritsen, Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 79-95.
    11. Alawattage, Chandana & Azure, John De-Clerk, 2021. "Behind the World Bank’s ringing declarations of “social accountability”: Ghana’s public financial management reform," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Kaifala, Gabriel B. & Paisey, Catriona & Paisey, Nicholas J., 2021. "The UK pensions landscape – A critique of the role of accountants and accounting technologies in the treatment of social and societal risks," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Gilbert, Christine & Guénin, Henri, 2024. "The COVID-19 crisis and massive public debts: What should we expect?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Jensen, Mads Langballe & Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2021. "Accountabilities, invisibilities and silences in a Danish slave trading company on the Gold Coast in the early 18th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    16. Gilbert, Christine & Everett, Jeff & de Castro Casa Nova, Silvia Pereira, 2024. "Patriarchy, capitalism, and accounting: A herstory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Drujon d'Astros, Caecilia & Morales, Jeremy, 2024. "The silent resistance: An ethnographic study of the use of silence to resist accounting and managerialization," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Okafor, Oliver Nnamdi & Kalu, Kenneth, 2024. "Integration challenges, immigrant characteristics and career satisfaction for immigrants in the field of accounting and finance: An empirical evidence from Canada," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    20. 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).

    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:77:y:2021:i:c:s1045235420300356. 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.