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Accounting for suffering: Calculative practices in the field of disaster relief

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  • Sargiacomo, Massimo
  • Ianni, Luca
  • Everett, Jeff

Abstract

This study examines the role of accounting and other calculative practices in the context of a natural disaster and subsequent emergency-relief effort. Relying on document analysis and interviews with key participants, the study chronologically examines when, how, and with what effects accounting and other associated practices were mobilized in the follow-up to an earthquake that occurred in the Abruzzo region of central Italy in 2009. The study considers these practices through the three lenses of private-interest maximization, inequality, and suffering. The study shows how accounting actors simultaneously serve multiple ethical masters, and how one of these can come to dominate accounting's ‘moral economy’. In so doing, the study helps bridge the gap between ethics and critical accounting research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sargiacomo, Massimo & Ianni, Luca & Everett, Jeff, 2014. "Accounting for suffering: Calculative practices in the field of disaster relief," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 652-669.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:25:y:2014:i:7:p:652-669
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2014.03.011
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    7. Jonida Carungu & Nicola Paolicelli, 2018. "L?intervento della Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena e il contributo del book-keeping nel "render conto" sulla gestione del terremoto del 1798," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 85-117.
    8. Kastberg Weichselberger, Gustaf & Fırtın, Cemil Eren & Bracci, Enrico, 2024. "Hybridisation, purification, and re-hybridisation: A study of shifting registers of value," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
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