IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v100y2024ics104523542400056x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Too poor to get social housing: Accounting and structural stigmatisation of the poor

Author

Listed:
  • Laguecir, Aziza
  • Hudson, Bryant Ashley

Abstract

This paper examines the role of accounting in a public social housing organisation, joining a conversation on how accounting participates in the stigmatisation of poverty. We draw upon the structural stigma approach, which considers stigmatisation within its broader political structures and temporal perspectives, to analyse the role accounting plays in the stigmatisation of the poorest applicants. Drawing upon Tyler’s approach, we conduct an upward and backward analysis of this stigmatisation, with the role of the Performance Measurement and Management Accounting Systems (PMS and MAS) as a central phenomenon. The analysis shows the importance of institutional housing policies (funding schemes, social mix, and social housing sector governance) in shaping the MAS, entrenching the poorest’s structural stigmatisation. It also reveals how the operations surrounding the PMS led to a classification of applicants, negatively labelling the poorest and thus denying them access to dwellings. This research contributes to the accounting literature on stigma by outlining the role of accounting in the structural stigmatisation of the poorest applicants, shedding light on the fact that accounting reproduces the stigmatisation of the poorest and is part of the machinery of inequality. We also contribute to the stigma literature by adopting a backward temporal perspective on the stigmatisation of the poorest. We finally add to the limited accounting literature on social housing by showing the impact (and negative outcomes) of New Public Management (NPM)-related PMS on the poorest beneficiaries.

Suggested Citation

  • Laguecir, Aziza & Hudson, Bryant Ashley, 2024. "Too poor to get social housing: Accounting and structural stigmatisation of the poor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:100:y:2024:i:c:s104523542400056x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102757
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104523542400056X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102757?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. Andy Holden & Warwick Funnell & David Oldroyd, 2009. "Accounting and the moral economy of illness in Victorian England: the Newcastle Infirmary," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(4), pages 525-552, May.
    2. Verna Care, 2011. "The significance of a 'correct and uniform system of accounts' to the administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 121-142.
    3. Smyth, Stewart & Cole, Ian & Fields, Desiree, 2020. "From gatekeepers to gateway constructors: Credit rating agencies and the financialisation of housing associations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Smyth, Stewart, 2012. "Contesting public accountability: A dialogical exploration of accountability and social housing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 230-243.
    5. Ade Kearns & Oliver Kearns & Louise Lawson, 2013. "Notorious Places: Image, Reputation, Stigma. The Role of Newspapers in Area Reputations for Social Housing Estates," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 579-598, June.
    6. William J. Jackson, 2012. "‘The collector will call’: controlling philanthropy through the annual reports of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1837--1856," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 47-72, March.
    7. 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).
    8. repec:bla:pmomgt:v:28:y:2008:i:6:p:345-352 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Walker, Stephen P., 2008. "Accounting, paper shadows and the stigmatised poor," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 453-487.
    10. Aziza Laguecir & Anja Kern & Cécile Kharoubi, 2020. "Management accounting systems in institutional complexity: Hysteresis and boundaries of practices in social housing," Post-Print hal-03134361, HAL.
    11. Peer Smets & Margarethe Kusenbach, 2020. "New Research on Housing and Territorial Stigma: Introduction to the Thematic Issue," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7.
    12. Mervyn Horgan, 2020. "Housing Stigmatization: A General Theory," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 8-19.
    13. Kathleen Scanlon & Christine Whitehead, 2011. "French Social Housing in an International Context," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 862, OECD Publishing.
    14. Lee, Bill & Carlisle, Liam, 2024. "Interpreting an escape from an eviction trap as a social account: A Gramscian reading of a credit union’s policies in support of social housing tenants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    15. Pekka Tuominen, 2020. "Historical and Spatial Layers of Cultural Intimacy: Urban Transformation of a Stigmatised Suburban Estate on the Periphery of Helsinki," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 34-43.
    16. 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.
    17. Walker, Stephen P., 2004. "Expense, social and moral control. Accounting and the administration of the old poor law in England and Wales," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 85-127.
    18. Bryant Ashley Hudson, 2019. "Fuck, fuck, fuck: Reflexivity and fidelity in reporting swearwords in management research," Post-Print hal-02511055, HAL.
    19. Westerdahl, Stig, 2021. "Yield and the city: Swedish public housing and the political significance of changed accounting practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Jeacle, Ingrid, 2016. "The diet of the nation: The state, family budgets and the 1930s nutritional crisis in Britain," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 54-68.
    21. Walker, Stephen P., 2016. "Revisiting the roles of accounting in society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 41-50.
    22. Melina M. Manochin & Lisa Jack & Claire Howell, 2008. "The Boundaries of Reporting Sustainable Development in Social Housing," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 345-352, December.
    23. Graham, Cameron & Grisard, Claudine, 2019. "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief: Accounting and the stigma of poverty," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 32-51.
    24. Jayne E. Bisman, 2012. "Budgeting for famine in Tudor England, 1527--1528: social and policy perspectives," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 105-126, July.
    25. Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh & Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh & Tom Tyson, 2012. "‘Irish property should pay for Irish poverty’: accounting for the poor in pre-famine Ireland," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 227-248, November.
    26. Philippe Zittoun, 2004. "Conflits autour de la démolition : la politique du logement en question," Post-Print halshs-03831012, HAL.
    27. Bryant Ashley Hudson & Gerardo A. Okhuysen, 2009. "Not with a Ten-Foot Pole: Core Stigma, Stigma Transfer, and Improbable Persistence of Men's Bathhouses," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 134-153, February.
    28. Stewart Smyth, 2017. "Public accountability: reforms and resistance in social housing," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 212-231, February.
    29. Haynes, Kathryn, 2017. "Accounting as gendering and gendered: A review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 110-124.
    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. Grossi, Giuseppe & Laguecir, Aziza & Ferry, Laurence & Tucker, Basil, 2024. "Accounting and accountability for managing diversity tensions in hybrid organisations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).

    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. Graham, Cameron & Grisard, Claudine, 2019. "Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief: Accounting and the stigma of poverty," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 32-51.
    2. Capelo-Bernal, Mariló & Araújo-Pinzón, Pedro, 2024. "The quid pro quo of charity: accounting, power and social positioning," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Goulding, Richard & Haslam, Colin & Leaver, Adam & Silver, Jonathan, 2024. "A ‘Distributional Apparatus’ for real estate: Fair value accounting and the assetization of UK property," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Lauwo, Sarah & Kyriacou, Orthodoxia & Julius Otusanya, Olatunde, 2020. "When sorry is not an option: CSR reporting and ‘face work’ in a stigmatised industry – A case study of Barrick (Acacia) gold mine in Tanzania," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Westerdahl, Stig, 2021. "Yield and the city: Swedish public housing and the political significance of changed accounting practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Lee, Bill & Carlisle, Liam, 2024. "Interpreting an escape from an eviction trap as a social account: A Gramscian reading of a credit union’s policies in support of social housing tenants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Danson, Mike & Galloway, Laura & Sherif, Mohamed, 2021. "From unemployment to self-employment: Can enterprise policy intensify the risks of poverty?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Rouault, Julie & Albertini, Elisabeth, 2022. "Reconciling the social sector with external accountability requirements: Lessons from stewardship theory," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 485-498.
    10. O'Regan, Philip, 2010. "'A dense mass of petty accountability': Accounting in the service of cultural imperialism during the Irish Famine, 1846-1847," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 416-430, May.
    11. 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).
    12. Alharthi, Amal & Cortese, Corinne & Moerman, Lee & Tanima, Farzana, 2022. "Surveillance capitalism in the middle east retail sector," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Peer Smets & Margarethe Kusenbach, 2020. "New Research on Housing and Territorial Stigma: Introduction to the Thematic Issue," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 1-7.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Walker, Stephen P., 2016. "Revisiting the roles of accounting in society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 41-50.
    18. Funnell, Warwick & Antonelli, Valerio & D'Alessio, Raffaele, 2019. "Accounting and psychiatric power in Italy: The royal insane hospital of Turin in the 19th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-21.
    19. Harvie, David & Lightfoot, Geoff & Lilley, Simon & Weir, Kenneth, 2021. "Social investment innovation and the ‘social turn’ of neoliberal finance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. 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).

    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:100:y:2024:i:c:s104523542400056x. 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.