On neo-colonialism and the colonisation of accounting research

Abstract

While assertions of the colonisation of accounting research have occasionally been made in the accounting literature, not only has there been no systematic examination of the evidence that supports these conclusions, no evidence has yet been proffered. This paper explores whether accounting research has been colonised by considering sociologically the essential elements of colonisation and whether they can be applied to accounting research. A critical examination of the elements of colonisation - control over communication, capital, culture, and education; elitism; and English as the dominant language - finds that accounting research has been colonised by acts of symbolic violence, which has resulted in misrecognised class distinctions and neo-colonial dependency relationships within accounting research. It urges accounting researchers recognise the neo-colonial power relationships that have been imposed upon them by the cultural imperialism of the dominant research culture.