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Accounting for ourselves: Are academics exploited workers?

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  • Harding, Nancy
  • Ford, Jackie
  • Gough, Brendan

Abstract

Who is the academic who reflects upon the self who has undertaken the research and written the manuscript? The ‘reflexive turn’ that has become more prevalent in the social sciences calls for us to account for ourselves by pursuing answers to this question, even though it is impossible to ever fully know the self. In this paper we turn upon our academic profession theoretical perspectives that we, as critical accounting and management researchers, customarily use when trying to understand other employees in other workplaces. We begin with theories of the self, then draw on queer theory and, finally, the exploration of means of control over staff. Our paper is somewhat disquieting, for this analysis suggests that we, academics working in departments of accountancy, human resource management, marketing or whatever sub-discipline we may choose to explore, are susceptible to control and exploitation through the norm of the ideal academic, a normative self we strive to achieve but which remains, for the vast majority of us, always out of reach.

Suggested Citation

  • Harding, Nancy & Ford, Jackie & Gough, Brendan, 2010. "Accounting for ourselves: Are academics exploited workers?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 159-168.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:159-168
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2009.08.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jackie Ford & Nancy Harding & Mark Learmonth, 2008. "Leadership as Identity," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-58418-1, December.
    2. Mats Alvesson & Hugh Willmott, 2002. "Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 619-644, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Clarke, Caroline & Knights, David & Jarvis, Carol, 2012. "A Labour of Love? Academics in Business Schools," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 5-15.
    2. Matthew J. Phillips & Peta L. Dzidic & Emily L. Castell, 2022. "Exploring and Critiquing Women’s Academic Identity in Higher Education: A Narrative Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    3. Dambrin, Claire & Lambert, Caroline, 2012. "Who is she and who are we? A reflexive journey in research into the rarity of women in the highest ranks of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-16.
    4. Adriana Gil-Juárez, 2019. "A Tale of Two Subjectivities: An Academic Life Story," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Rumens, Nick, 2016. "Sexualities and accounting: A queer theory perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 111-120.
    6. David Watson & Angelo Benozzo & Roberta Fida, 2024. "Trans People in the Workplace: Possibilities for Subverting Heteronormativity," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(3), pages 744-765, June.
    7. Prasad, Ajnesh, 2015. "Liminal transgressions, or where should the critical academy go from here? Reimagining the future of doctoral education to engender research sustainability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 108-116.
    8. Jiayi Zhao & Karen Jones, 2017. "Women and Leadership in Higher Education in China: Discourse and the Discursive Construction of Identity," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-17, June.
    9. Sorola, Matthew, 2022. "Q methodology to conduct a critical study in accounting: A Q study on accountants’ perspectives of social and environmental reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Omar Manky & Sergio Saravia, 2022. "From pure academics to transformative scholars? The crisis of the “ideal academic” in a Peruvian university," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 971-987, July.
    11. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.

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