IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v32y2018i6p1118-1129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research Ethics in an Unethical World: The Politics and Morality of Engaged Research

Author

Listed:
  • Claudio Morrison

    (Middlesex University, UK)

  • Devi Sacchetto

    (University of Padua, Italy)

Abstract

This article explores ethical dilemmas in researching the world of work. Recent contributions to Work, employment and society have highlighted challenges for engaged research. Based on the emancipatory epistemologies of Bourdieu, Gramsci and Burawoy, the authors examine moral challenges in workplace fieldwork, question the assumptions of mainstream ethics discourses and seek to identify an alternative approach. Instead of an ethics premised on a priori, universal precepts that treasure academic neutrality, this article recognises a morality that responds to the social context of research with participation and commitment. The reflection in this study is based on fieldwork conducted in the former Soviet Union. Transformation societies present challenges to participatory ethnography but simultaneously provide considerable opportunities for developing an ethics of truth. An approach that can guide engaged researchers through social conflict’s ‘messy’ reality should hinge on loyalty to the emancipation struggles of those engaged in it.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Morrison & Devi Sacchetto, 2018. "Research Ethics in an Unethical World: The Politics and Morality of Engaged Research," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(6), pages 1118-1129, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:32:y:2018:i:6:p:1118-1129
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017017726947
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017017726947
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017017726947?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Armstrong, Peter, 1991. "Contradiction and social dynamics in the capitalist agency relationship," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-25.
    2. Bob Arnot, 1988. "Controlling Soviet Labour," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-09231-4, December.
    3. Ulrike Ziemer & Anton Popov, 2014. "Research Ethics and Moral Dilemmas of Social Research in Post-Socialist Europe and Beyond," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(4), pages 196-202, December.
    4. Paul Edwards, 2015. "Industrial relations, critical social science and reform: I, principles of engagement," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 173-186, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Olivier Herrbach, 2001. "Audit quality, auditor behaviour and the psychological contract," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 787-802.
    2. Uddin, Shahzad, 2009. "Rationalities, domination and accounting control: A case study from a traditional society," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 782-794.
    3. Gautier Gond & Jérôme Méric, 2016. "L'émergence d'un contrôle de gestion sociale : d'une opportunité de gouvernance à un risque de gouvernance," Post-Print hal-01901095, HAL.
    4. Platts, K.W. & Sobótka, M., 2010. "When the uncountable counts: An alternative to monitoring employee performance," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 349-357, July.
    5. Steven Toms, 2010. "Value, profit and risk: accounting and the resource‐based view of the firm," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(5), pages 647-670, June.
    6. Mihret, Dessalegn Getie, 2014. "How can we explain internal auditing? The inadequacy of agency theory and a labor process alternative," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 771-782.
    7. Bryer, Alice Rose, 2014. "Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 93-103.
    8. Free, Clinton, 2008. "Walking the talk? Supply chain accounting and trust among UK supermarkets and suppliers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 629-662, August.
    9. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Willmott, Hugh & Worthington, Frank, 2008. "Manufacturing shareholder value: The role of accounting in organizational transformation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 107-140.
    10. Power, Michael, 1996. "Making things auditable," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 289-315.
    11. 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.
    12. Roberts, Robin W. & Bobek, Donna D., 2004. "The politics of tax accounting in the United States: evidence from the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 565-590.
    13. Dezalay, Yves, 1997. "Accountants as "new guard dogs" of capitalism: Stereotype or research agenda?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 825-829, November.
    14. Morales, Jérémy & Sponem, Samuel, 2017. "You too can have a critical perspective! 25 years of Critical Perspectives on Accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 149-166.
    15. Indra Abeysekera, 2008. "Intellectual capital practices of firms and the commodification of labour," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 36-48, January.
    16. Croucher, Richard & Rizov, Marian, 2011. "Employees’ entrepreneurial contributions to firms in Russia, 1995-2004," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(4), pages 415-431.
    17. Matthew Haigh, 2006. "Managed investments, managed disclosures: financial services reform in practice," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(2), pages 186-204, February.
    18. Gregory Schwartz, 2003. "Employment Restructuring in Russian Industrial Enterprises," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 17(1), pages 49-72, March.
    19. Soulsby, Anna & Clark, Ed, 1996. "Economic restructuring and institutional change: Post-communist management in the Czech Republic," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 473-496.
    20. Bryer, Alice Rose, 2014. "Participation in budgeting: A critical anthropological approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 511-530.

    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:sae:woemps:v:32:y:2018:i:6:p:1118-1129. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    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.