1. Accounting and Materialism in the History of Ideas
- Author
-
Ratnam Alagiah
- Subjects
popular culture ,counting ,accounting ,materialism ,an ever advancing civilization ,Commerce ,HF1-6182 ,Accounting. Bookkeeping ,HF5601-5689 - Abstract
Current popular culture is connected to the birth of a secular and materialistic interpretation of reality. Materialism, which is the tendency to be more concerned with material values through rational experimentation and discourse. This paper applies Foucault’s genealogy to explain that materialism is a product of a series of historical events that are closely related to the practice of accounting. Second, accounting and “scientific materialism” have been instrumental in paving the course to their and our common failure. Third, the paper proposes a shift away from our impulse for a mere material existence leading to what has now become ‘popular culture’, to a vision of enhancing ‘an ever advancing civilization’.
- Published
- 2012