Accounting and the construction of the retired person

Cameron Graham

Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2010, vol. 35, issue 1, 23-46

Abstract: This paper seeks to describe the constitutive role played by accounting in the social safety net for the elderly, and its effects on the individual preparing for retirement. The paper documents the effects of accounting on life-long behaviours, through the objectivization of the individual as a worker, saver, and pensioner. It shows how accounting has, by capturing measures of individual earnings, by enlisting the individual in the preparation of tax returns, and by reflecting back to the individual various accumulations of lifetime savings, attempted to transform that individual not just into a saver who can continue to consume long after ceasing to produce, but into an investor whose interests are aligned with the financial markets. The focus of the paper is the Canadian retirement income system. Starting with an early attempt at retirement income protection, the 1908 government annuities program, the paper develops a genealogy of Canada's present comprehensive retirement income system. By examining the succession and accumulation of retirement income programs introduced since 1908, the study shows how accounting has functioned as a dividing practice, separating citizens into categories wherein they can be subjected to particular programs. The paper suggests that the accounting technologies used in constructing the Canadian system have fallen short as tools for governing retirement and retirement savings, largely due to their inadequacy as technologies of the self. The paper is of particular relevance to accounting scholars because the aging population in many countries is putting tremendous pressure on retirement income programs. The paper helps us to understanding the role of accounting in shaping political policy on the aged and in preparing citizens for old age.

Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361-3682(09)00028-2
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:23-46

Access Statistics for this article

Accounting, Organizations and Society is currently edited by Christopher Chapman

More articles in Accounting, Organizations and Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().