UNSPECIFIED (1992) CONTROL, ORGANIZATION, AND ACCOUNTING - A GENEALOGY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE POWER. SYSTEMS PRACTICE, 5 (4). pp. 425-439. ISSN 0894-9859

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Abstract

Much social scientizing tends to be ahistorical, particularly with regard to its fundamental terms and constructs, which are implicitly defined atemporally as simply "being there," the givens of discourse. The history of two such terms, "control" and "organization," is investigated here. In an elaboration of Foucault's idea of power-knowledge relations, a two-stage history of the terms is set out linked to the historical emergence of accounting. In the first stage, the initial invention of the terms in the thirteenth century is aligned with the contemporaneous invention of the double-entry system. with all these innovations embodying a new power of writing. However the constructs only develop their modem significance as forms of knowledge-power at a much later stage, following the establishment of a "disciplinary" power-knowledge nexus post-1800. Under this interpretation, accounting, control, and organization, far from being ahistorical givens of discourse, are constructs which help establish the modern world of "disciplinary," that site where the power of expert knowledge must operate.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Journal or Publication Title:	SYSTEMS PRACTICE
Publisher:	PLENUM PUBL CORP
ISSN:	0894-9859
Date:	August 1992
Volume:	5
Number:	4
Number of Pages:	15
Page Range:	pp. 425-439
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/21834

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