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Accounting as learnt social practice: The case of the empresas recuperadas in Argentina

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  • Bryer, Alice Rose

Abstract

Can accounting practices give coherence to the diverse and unique qualities of organizational activities rather than constraining them? According to the conventional view, accounting is a means of ordering activity from above to achieve the inevitable and uniform end of profitability. The paper challenges this perspective by developing a concept of learnt social practices, a methodology for theorizing the social and subjectively creative capacities of accounting as a practice embedded in social relations; collective activities through which individuals shape wider meaningful realities, potentially reshaping their own needs and understandings. The methodology develops through an ethnographic analysis of the empresas recuperadas – worker cooperatives formed as a grass roots initiative within a wider societal movement in Argentina, which responded to economic and political crises in 2001 by creating new organizational and institutional practices. By analyzing descriptions and observations of social interactions and dialogues, the paper identifies and explains how accounting practices can distort communication, but can also push individuals to clarify their concerns through the constitution of social consensus. Building on attempts to theorize social order and diversity, the paper concludes by formulating a concept of the conscious, relational activities through which accounting practices represented and constructed a form of inter-dependency that was sensitive to the needs and understandings of individuals.

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  • Bryer, Alice Rose, 2011. "Accounting as learnt social practice: The case of the empresas recuperadas in Argentina," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 478-493.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:36:y:2011:i:8:p:478-493
    DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2011.09.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. Smith, Julia A. & England, Claire, 2019. "An ethnographic study of culture and performance in the UK lingerie industry," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 241-258.
    3. Stéphane Jaumier, 2016. "Preventing chiefs from being chiefs: An ethnography of a co-operative sheet-metal factory," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01366601, HAL.
    4. Neu, Dean, 2023. "Fragile assets: Street gangs and the extortion business," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Cuenca Botey, Luis Emilio & Célérier, Laure, 2023. "On the relentless labour of deconstructing domination logics: The case of decolonial critical accounting research in South America," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Crvelin, David & Becker, Albrecht, 2020. "‘The spirits that we summoned’: A study on how the ‘governed’ make accounting their own in the context of market-making programs in Nepal," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Crvelin, David & Löhlein, Lukas, 2022. "Commensuration by form: Lists and accounting in collective action networks," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    8. Lai, Alessandro & Leoni, Giulia & Stacchezzini, Riccardo, 2014. "The socializing effects of accounting in flood recovery," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 579-603.
    9. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    10. Stéphane Jaumier, 2016. "Preventing chiefs from being chiefs: An ethnography of a co-operative sheet-metal factory," Post-Print hal-01366601, HAL.
    11. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Bryer, Alice, 2023. "Critical accounting as an indigenous project," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    13. Martinez, Daniel & Himick, Darlene, 2023. "Accounting in (direct) action: Prefiguring emancipation in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Neu, Dean, 2019. "Accounting for extortion," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 50-63.

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