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Accounting in (direct) action: Prefiguring emancipation in accounting research

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  • Martinez, Daniel
  • Himick, Darlene

Abstract

This article introduces anarchist-informed approaches of collective decision-making, self-organizing, and anti-hierarchy into emancipatory accounting research through the study of direct action and its prefigurative practices. At its most basic form, direct action is a means of bringing about social change in such a way that the action itself models (i.e., prefigures) the change participants wish to bring about at a societal level. Through the example of Occupy Edmonton, we show the different functions of accounting and how its tendency to intervene hierarchically and over-organize comes into tension with occupiers’ self-organizing and anti-hierarchical mode of decision-making. To interdisciplinary and emancipatory accounting researchers we propose that accounting is at the centre of direct action itself. Accounting is not only an output, that is, an emancipatory account that reveals unequal distribution and exploitation, or enables social movements to provide counter narratives. It is also an organizational component of direct emancipatory action.

Suggested Citation

  • Martinez, Daniel & Himick, Darlene, 2023. "Accounting in (direct) action: Prefiguring emancipation in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:93:y:2023:i:c:s1045235422000612
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102476
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