Toms, S orcid.org/0000-0002-6147-7828 and Shepherd, A orcid.org/0000-0002-8370-3929 (2017) Accounting and social conflict: Profit and regulated working time in the British Industrial Revolution. Critical Perspectives On Accounting, 49. pp. 57-75. ISSN 1045-2354
Abstract
We demonstrate that social movements can use accounting for progressive purposes, and that such outcomes can be promoted where they are aligned with the material interests of key fractions of capital. Such fractionalization is a function of technology and labour process, underpinned by adopted ideology. Alignment with social movement objectives overcomes the class belongingness of accounting that limits its progressive role in normal circumstances. We illustrate the role of accounting in achieving limitations to working hours and child labour, drawing on accounting evidence used to resist and support factory reform during the industrial revolution. We compare the evidence on costs and profits presented by both sides in parliamentary hearings and also with data revealed from the business accounts of the main protagonists. These comparisons show that assumptions about cost behaviour were used to exaggerate or mitigate the apparent effects of reduced working time on profits. Regressive fractions of capital were unable to resist change because they failed to consistently monopolize accounting information to impose a dominant narrative about the consequences of regulation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Critical Perspectives On Accounting. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | British Industrial Revolution; Accounting information; Production costs; Labour process; Social movements; Factory reform |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Accounting & Finance Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Mar 2017 11:58 |
Last Modified: | 17 Sep 2018 00:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.cpa.2017.03.002 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:113135 |