ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of an emergent research theme within critical accounting research. Popular culture has been recognised as an insightful new field of scholarly inquiry (Jeacle, 2012). The call to pursue an accounting and popular culture research agenda recognises the increasingly significant role of popular culture in economic and social life. Social media sites, such as Facebook, are an obvious example of this situation; these internet businesses are not only powerful global concerns, they are also inherently integrated into the rhythms of daily life (Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe, 2007). An accounting and popular culture perspective encourages scholars to investigate such dominant components of popular culture and explore the accounting angle. In other words, recognises a popular phenomenon and unravels the ‘accounting story’ therein. This represents a departure from traditional modes of accounting research which seek to interrogate the latest professional pronouncement on international standard setting or analyse the market’s reaction to a recent disclosure of accounting information. It involves stepping outside predetermined boundaries that have traditionally defined the scope of accounting scholarship. Hence, it represents a further attempt to push the boundaries of critical accounting research into ever new territories. An accounting and popular culture research agenda also requires a broad understanding of what constitutes accounting. Drawing on the work of Miller (2001), the notion of calculative practices or calculative technologies provides a valuable means of understanding the often far-reaching role of accounting. Regimes of calculation are increasingly pervasive in contemporary life. An awareness of the myriad modes of calculative accountability provides a powerful basis on which to unravel the interlinkages between accounting and popular culture.
