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Calculative practices in a total institution

Kelum Jayasinghe (School of Business and Management, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK)
Danture Wickramasinghe (Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK)

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management

ISSN: 1176-6093

Article publication date: 9 October 2007

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence on how and why a poor rural community is engaged in certain calculative practices, and how these are embedded in a “total institution” defined in terms of “relations of production” and “relations in production”.

Design/methodology/approach

Focusing on the traditional fishing industry in the Sri Lankan village of Kalamatiya, this study employs a qualitative, ethnographic methodology to collect and analyse data.

Findings

The underlying calculative practices are shown to resemble an articulated mode of production fabricated with some heterogeneous complexities, especially patronage relations, village cultures, and local capital and political power, rather than mere economic rationalities.

Originality/value

The paper argues that the notions of the “total institution” and the “articulated MOP” can inform accounting researchers to conceptualise research sites beyond the organisation as a novel “field” for empirical studies.

Keywords

Citation

Jayasinghe, K. and Wickramasinghe, D. (2007), "Calculative practices in a total institution", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 183-202. https://doi.org/10.1108/11766090710826637

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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