This is not an exit: accounting education and attempting to escape the capitalist realist “cage”
ISSN: 1030-9616
Article publication date: 20 November 2023
Issue publication date: 27 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Through this reflexive, theoretically informed polemical piece, this paper aims to seek to reflect on the role of accounting education in United Kingdom Higher Education (UKHE). The authors reignite an old, but pertinent debate, whether accounting graduates should be educated to be accountants or receive a holistic, critical education.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a theoretical position drawing on the work of Slavoj Žižek and Mark Fisher, and their fusion of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Marxism, in particular Fisher’s (2009) conceptualisation of “capitalist realism” to take a critical standpoint on the effects that UKHE marketisation is having on the teaching of accounting and other business-related disciplines.
Findings
The authors outline four key aspects of where accounting education in UKHE is influenced by capitalist realism, as a result of the marketisation of UKHE.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is a reflexive polemic and so is limited by this written style and presentation.
Social implications
The authors argue that capitalist realism is a dominant theme that influences accounting education. They propose that universities now, more than ever, must focus on their societal duty to foster critical viewpoints in their graduates and dispose of a model that is subject to capitalist realism ontology.
Originality/value
The theoretical stance allows for a potentially deeper consideration of issues surrounding marketisation of higher education, from the micro level of social interaction (that of the accounting academic and their impact/perceptions of the reality).
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Editor and Associate Editor, plus the two anonymous reviewers for their extremely constructive tone and comments in each round of review. At the same time, they would like to pass their sincere thanks to Professor Ivo De loo for encouraging to pursue this project, and for his helpful comments passed to one of the authors in a meeting in 2023. David Yates wishes to thank Doctor Rebecca Bolt for tolerating his never-ending popular culture references when talking about this project, and Brigitte Knowles for her enduring patience with her partner’s Zizekian odyssey and curiosity. The authors would also like to thank the participants at the Gregynog University of Wales Accounting and Finance Colloquium held in May 2023 for their helpful comments and interest. Finally, they thank all the capitalist realists that have worked with them in the past and continue to work with for inspiring them to write this piece. The authors state that all eat from the trashcan of ideology, but only some go up for seconds.
Funding. This work has received no external funding.
Disclosure statement. The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.
Citation
Yates, D. and Al Mahameed, M. (2023), "This is not an exit: accounting education and attempting to escape the capitalist realist “cage”", Accounting Research Journal, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 515-538. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-06-2022-0144
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited