Commercialising the service class and economic restructuring—a response to my critics

Abstract

The Commercialisation of Accountancy is reviewed in this issue of AOS in two extended essays—one by Hugh Willmott and Prem Sikka (1997) and the other by Yves Dezalay (1997). Whilst agreeing with many of the insightful criticisms of my work, I would like to take this opportunity to defend elements of the text which were criticised. In particular, I would like to expand upon the criticism made by Willmott and Sikka that I should have examined how the economic restructuring of the past two decades has presented some accountants (and indeed other expert labour groups) with opportunities, whilst restricting the life chances of many others. I accept this criticism; however, I would argue that the inter- and intra-group struggles for position are implicit in the work throughout much of the text and that they are explicitly mentioned in chapter six and the conclusion (the chapters which deal with class). Dezalay also refers to this inadequacy and suggests that the work suffers from the binary simplicity of Perkin's thesis which emphasises the public sector-private sector divide (see Perkin, 1989). What follows will attempt to clarify my views in this area and to raise questions and point to future areas of research.