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This paper seeks to consider the impact and potential impact of social accounting at the macro level. It aims to explore the potential for “silent” or “shadow” social accounting to hold Anglo‐American capitalism to account for its social outcomes relative to other “varieties of capitalism”.

The role of accounting in spreading Anglo‐American capitalist values is outlined. This is followed by a discussion of macro social indicators and their potential to problematise social outcomes. In particular the paper reports on, and updates, an investigation of comparative child mortality figures in wealthy countries that appeared in the medical literature. This evidence is used both as an exemplar and as a substantive issue in its own right.

The specific empirical evidence reported, based on a cross‐sectional and longitudinal analysis of child mortality and its relationship to income inequality, exemplifies the consistently poor and relatively worsening performance of the Anglo‐American capitalist model. A rationale, and evidence, is also presented for the potential of such social reporting to act as an accountability mechanism.

The paper introduces to the accounting literature specific evidence of poor social outcomes associated with Anglo‐American capitalism. It considers the wider potential role of social indicators, as a component of silent and shadow reporting at a macro‐level, in problematising dominant forms of economic and social organisation.

This paper aims to present the case of the Pilbara as an illustration of how neo‐liberalism and globalisation affect a natural resource region.

A primary data set was collected by interviewing 21 people who had an interest in the development of the Pilbara. Secondary data was collected from relevant government policy documents and media reports relating to the region. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to analyse the data.

It is found that neo‐liberal policy has had a profound and largely negative effect on Pilbara communities. Rather than reaping the benefits of the wealth being generated in the region, participants in this research experience social breakdown and unmet social needs, and the local democratic institutions are weak and ineffective. Research limitations/implications – This paper reports on a single case and is limited in terms of its generalisability. However, it does illustrate the value of the “Resource Curse Thesis” and the concept of “risk” in illuminating the issues associated with neo‐liberalism.

This research has practical implications in that it provides an example of the problems associated with neo‐liberal perspectives when they are used as a framework for developing and implementing regional policy.

The resource curse thesis tends to be used in analysing developing nations and risk has so far been applied in limited areas of researching the effects of neo‐liberal policy trajectories. This paper employs these concepts to provide a critical examination of regional development policy in a way that can be used in other national contexts.

In his work Dr Rugina mentions several times his affinity and indebtedness to the German economist, Walter Eucken (1891–1950). He does so most outspokenly in the following quotation:

This paper considers the concept of risk as applied to an understanding of the nature and changing relationship between social welfare and youth in the United Kingdom. The paper begins by drawing on the sociological work of Ulrich Beck (1992) in order to examine how changes in modern society have led to what has been coined the “risk society”. An assessment is then made of historical narratives of social welfare which positioned younger individuals in society. Attention then focuses on an examination of neo‐liberalism in contemporary times as a key feature of the “risk society” and the recasting of the state, welfare agents and younger people. In particular, the paper observes the rise of managerialism and consumer narratives that are central to neo‐liberalism and management of social welfare yet are indicative of risk. The article concludes by arguing for an interface between risk and a critical sociology of youth.

The paper argues that the form, structure and ideologies of elites are embedded in particular forms of capitalism. Whilst elites in these different societies are engaged in a common task of ensuring that their position is sustained and protected in the light of economic and political uncertainties, the way in which they are able to do this is shaped by the particular forms of legitimation, coordination and cohesion that are embedded in particular institutional trajectories, path dependencies and complementarities. However, the paper emphasizes that these institutional structures are dependent on particular international economic orders and when these change either over the short or the long term, elites often find themselves struggling to maintain their position without significant changes. The paper examines firstly how the long-term change from Keynesianism to neo-liberalism in the international economic order led to changes in the terrain on which elites in different countries formed and exercised power and secondly how the immediate and drastic short-term changes in the global economy arising from the financial crisis has impacted on elites.

This paper focuses on the strategic role of elites in managing institutional and organizational change within English public services, framed by the wider ideological and political context of neo-liberalism and its pervasive impact on the social and economic order over recent decades. It also highlights the unintended consequences of this elite-driven programme of institutional reform as realized in the emergence of hybridized regimes of ‘polyarchic governance’ and the innovative discursive and organizational technologies on which they depend. Within the latter, ‘leaderism’ is identified as a hegemonic ‘discursive imaginary’ that has the potential to connect selected marketization and market control elements of new public management (NPM), network governance, and visionary and shared leadership practices that ‘make the hybrid happen’ in public services reform.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the financial crisis of 2007–2010 stands out as a landmark political, societal, business and economic event. Its impact on the financial sector is evident as seen by the collapse of banks such as Lehman Brothers, the sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan Chase and by the full or part nationalisation of others such as Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley, Lloyds (including Halifax Bank of Scotland which they acquired during the crisis) and RBS. Its scope and breadth of impact has spread beyond the financial sector and has affected the broader economy and society. The North American along with a number of European and other economies fell into recession. The UK economy suffered its longest and deepest recession since the Second World War. Government and central banks announced unprecedented policy responses and initiated measures such as record low interest rates and quantitative easing (the printing of money) to stave off a 1930s style depression. Policies such as the car scrappage scheme introduced by the UK and American governments were designed to reduce inventories, stimulate economic recovery and help re-build confidence. Nevertheless, businesses suffered and a number of them collapsed, for example in the United Kingdom, high street retailers Zavvi, Woolworths and among others Borders ceased trading and were put into administration. The story of the financial and economic crisis has been well documented by, among others, Tett (2010), Roubini and Mihm (2010), and Bishop and Green (2010).

The present study contributes to research that examines the meanings of achievement gaps, when enacting policy. Its findings are both hopeful and unsettling. The absence of equitable outcomes and democratic citizenship, as elements of closing the achievement gaps in our participants' definitions, are troubling, particularly within the context of neo-liberalism, where increases in inequities showcase the negative aspects of policy appropriation.

A qualitative case study methodology was used to identify the parameters of the research (Merriam and Simpson, 2000) because case studies are particularistic in nature in that case studies examine a specific instance but illuminate a general problem (Merriam, 1998). This case study is not based on generating generalizations, concepts or hypotheses grounded in systematically obtained data (Abercrombie et al., 1990) but goes beyond the limited notion of context employed in many case studies, as no researcher can enter a situation free from preconceptions but must fit existing perceptions into a pre-existing discourse. This study explores heads of schools' decisions with regards to increasing the number of students who meet standards, as set by the government and reducing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

The findings from this study are discussed in three broad categories; the achievement gap, aspirations and parental support and differentiated and targeted solutions.

These findings raise the question as to whether the education inspection framework (EIF) presents cause for concern. After all, the EIF was developed to hold schools accountable for high standards without consultation with the teachers' representatives, local communities, parents and colleges and universities. Nevertheless, the EIF, as a set of standards, is problematic.

The leadership practices enacted by heads of schools to bridge the achievement gaps differ from those advocated by the State. This echoes previous findings demonstrating that the same leadership practices can be used to pursue different goals (Leithwood, 2006) and that individuals enact policies in ways that reflect the particularities of their own contexts (Ball et al., 2012).

The absence of equitable outcomes and democratic citizenship, as elements of closing the achievement gaps in our participants' definitions, are troubling, particularly within the context of neo-liberalism, where increases in inequities showcase the negative aspects of policy appropriation.

The present study contributes to research that examines the meanings of achievement gaps when enacting policy (Ball et al., 2012; Hardy, 2014; Winton, 2013). Its findings are both hopeful and unsettling. The heads of schools demonstrate that they can appropriate definitions of achievement for all students to support their academic learning and wellbeing (Hodgkinson, 1991; Winton, 2013).

The purpose of this paper is to utilise Williams' writings on hegemony in order to examine why and how in the last 25 years efficiency has come to dominate the public sector and to explore the consequences of this development.

The paper employs a literature‐based analysis and critique.

Williams' model is able to explain why and how the public sector has become preoccupied with a selective version of efficiency, the significant role played by accounting, and the cultural clashes encountered in the public sector.

Williams' model could be used in a variety of settings for a variety of purposes.

Williams' writings are new to the accounting literature. The paper is novel also in that it uses Williams' writings to explain efficiency's dominance.

This paper aims to explore how neo‐liberalism shapes income support policy and lone mothers' experiences in Canada and the USA.

A critical comparative analysis is undertaken of how Canadian and US governments take up sociological concepts of risk, market citizenship, and individualization, whether explicitly or implicitly, in the design and administration of neo‐liberal income support policies directed at lone mothers. Specifically, the contradictory life circumstances that Canadian and American lone mothers experience when they access income supports that are designed ostensibly to construct/reconstruct them as citizens capable of risk taking in their search for employment and self‐sufficiency are compared.

The paper finds that the realities for poor lone mothers are remarkably similar in the two countries and therefore argue that income support policies, particularly welfare‐to‐work initiatives, underpinned by neo‐liberal tenets, can act in a counter‐intuitive manner exposing lone mothers to greater rather than lesser economic and social insecurity/inequality, and constructing them as risk aversive and dependent.

The economic and social implications/contradictions of neo‐liberal restructuring of income support policies for lone mothers is revealed.

This paper contributes to broader scholarship on the gendered dimensions of neo‐liberal restructuring of welfare states in late modernity.