IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v21y2010i3p211-220.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge, risk and Beck: Misconceptions of expertise and risk

Author

Listed:
  • Hanlon, Gerard

Abstract

Ulrich Beck's work is beginning to alter how risk is understood. This paper maps out the core of Beck's argument and provides a critique of his analysis. In particular it argues that this emerging concept of risk is flawed because it is not rooted in an ontological view of knowledge and, hence, it misunderstands the relationship between experts, expert knowledge and lay knowledge. Because of his downgrading of ontology, Beck under-theorizes the politics of expertise and the sociality of knowledge hence we should be cautious in our use of his analysis of risk and organization in late modernity.It has been said civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. With Katrina, we have had the catastrophe, and we are racing inexorably toward the next. Americans want to know; what have we learned?(US Select Bipartisan Committee, 2006; ix)

Suggested Citation

  • Hanlon, Gerard, 2010. "Knowledge, risk and Beck: Misconceptions of expertise and risk," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 211-220.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:21:y:2010:i:3:p:211-220
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2009.03.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235409001300
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2009.03.005?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. Miller, Peter & Kurunmäki, Liisa & O'Leary, Ted, 2008. "Accounting, hybrids and the management of risk," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 942-967.
    2. Gerard Hanlon, 1999. "Lawyers, the State and the Market," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-14686-4, December.
    3. Armstrong, Peter, 1985. "Changing management control strategies: The role of competition between accountancy and other organisational professions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 129-148, April.
    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. Nicolas Dufour & Béatrice Bon-Michel, 2014. "La mesure du risque dans la société du calcul : du dénombrement au discernement. Cas du risque opérationnel bancaire," Post-Print hal-01899431, HAL.
    2. Saravanamuthu, Kala & Lehman, Cheryl, 2013. "Enhancing stakeholder interaction through environmental risk accounts," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 410-437.
    3. 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).
    4. O’Regan, Philip & Killian, Sheila, 2014. "‘Professionals who understand’: Expertise, public interest and societal risk governance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 615-631.
    5. Brown, Judy & Dillard, Jesse, 2013. "Agonizing over engagement: SEA and the “death of environmentalism” debates," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-18.
    6. Andrea Cerase & Lorenzo Cugliari, 2023. "Something Still Remains: Factors Affecting Tsunami Risk Perception on the Coasts Hit by the Reggio Calabria-Messina 1908 Event (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-26, February.
    7. Moerman, Lee C. & van der Laan, Sandra L., 2012. "Risky business: Socializing asbestos risk and the hybridization of accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 107-116.

    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. Daniel Muzio & David M. Brock & Roy Suddaby, 2013. "Professions and Institutional Change: Towards an Institutionalist Sociology of the Professions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 699-721, July.
    2. Himick, Darlene, 2016. "Actuarialism as biopolitical and disciplinary technique," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 22-44.
    3. Fischer, Michael Daniel & Ferlie, Ewan, 2013. "Resisting hybridisation between modes of clinical risk management: Contradiction, contest, and the production of intractable conflict," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 30-49.
    4. Lepori, Benedetto & Montauti, Martina, 2020. "Bringing the organization back in: Flexing structural responses to competing logics in budgeting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Caroline Lambert & Éric Pezet, 2007. "Discipliner les autres et agir sur soi:la double vie du contrôleur de gestion," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 10(1), pages 183-208, March.
    6. Saravanamuthu, Kala & Lehman, Cheryl, 2013. "Enhancing stakeholder interaction through environmental risk accounts," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 410-437.
    7. Walker, Stephen P., 2000. "Benign sacerdotalist or pious assailant. The rise of the professional accountant in British management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 313-323, April.
    8. Anne-Laure Farjaudon & Jérémy Morales, 2011. "Mesurer et définir la valeur des marques - un enjeu dans la concurrence entre groupes professionnels," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 14(3), pages 63-90, September.
    9. Anne Pezet & Jérémy Morales, 2010. "Les contrôleurs de gestion, « médiateurs » de la financiarisation," Post-Print halshs-00498673, HAL.
    10. ter Bogt, Henk & Tillema, Sandra, 2016. "Accounting for trust and control: Public sector partnerships in the arts," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 5-23.
    11. Federico Ceschel & Alessandro Hinna & Fabian Homberg, 2022. "Public Sector Strategies in Curbing Corruption: A Review of the Literature," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 571-591, September.
    12. Sikka, Prem & Willmott, Hugh, 1995. "The power of "independence": defending and extending the jurisdiction of accounting in the United Kingdom," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 547-581, August.
    13. Ben Khaled, Wafa & Gérard, Benoît & Farjaudon, Anne-Laure, 2022. "Analysis of the political and identity dynamics of a dominant mode of control: The case of business ethics control and its legalization," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. Goretzki, Lukas & Messner, Martin, 2019. "Backstage and frontstage interactions in management accountants' identity work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-20.
    15. Picard, Claire-France, 2016. "The marketization of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 79-97.
    16. Jonathan Wareham & Paul B. Fox & Josep Lluís Cano Giner, 2014. "Technology Ecosystem Governance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1195-1215, August.
    17. Xu, Shirley Geyi & Andrew, Brian, 2021. "Competing for the leading role: Trials in categorizing greenhouse and energy auditors," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    18. Hamilton, Gavin & Ó hÓgartaigh, Ciarán, 2009. "The Third Policeman: ‘The true and fair view’, language and the habitus of accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 910-920.
    19. Nicolas Berland & Trevor Boyns, 2002. "The development of budgetary control in France and Britain from the 1920s to the 1960s: a comparison," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 329-356.
    20. Velayutham, Sivakumar & Perera, Hector, 1996. "Recent developments in the accounting profession in New Zealand: A case of deprofessionalization?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 445-462.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:21:y:2010:i:3:p:211-220. 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.