Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction

This is an important and interesting book for accounting researchers; one which references neither the standard accounting literature nor considers financial matters. Often we hear ourselves or others claiming that accounting researchers are social scientists. Such a claim is useful and far‐reaching and making it seeks to move the study of accounting from something confined to the description and elaboration of accounting techniques towards a broader understanding of what accounting is and the reciprocal relations between “accounting” and its contexts of application. To develop such a programme makes demands on researchers: not only must they have to demonstrate competence (often quite literally through teaching) in the techniques of accounting but they must ally this with a detailed awareness and facility in the theorisation and practices of social science research. It is easy to be dismissed as lacking credibility in one (or both!) arenas ‐ good social theorists but do they know anything about practical accounting or good qualified accountants but a pity about the lack of sound social theory. When social theory is deployed in accounting it is all too easy to use one “brand” of social theory often constructed around a great man ‐ Habermas, Foucault, Latour to name but three. What is more difficult but most rewarding for accounting researchers in the longer term is to become more familiar with a variety of genres of social science theory (and practice) and to develop an awareness of the detailed debates between various positions. And it is in this area that Potter’s book can make an important contribution.

Potter is concerned with two related sets of questions: how are descriptions produced so that they will be treated as factual and second, how are factual descriptions put together in ways that allow them to perform particular actions? In other words, he is focusing on (more fruitful?) how questions rather than why questions. In his search for answers the book is organised into three parts.

The first part of the book is devoted to an overview of three areas of social science which he has been interested in and developed ideas about the construction of facts ‐ the sociology of scientific knowledge, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, and structuralism/poststructuralism including post‐ modernism. This part could in itself easily be a book length project and Potter accomplishes well the difficult task of providing description, synthesis, and critique of these diverse, complex and often argumentative domains. It is easy to point out omissions but one glaring omission, recognised by Potter, and important within accounting as it is elsewhere, is the so called actor network theory of Latour, Callon, Law and others. The dilemma which Potter faced is that inclusion of such arguments would have forced him to rethink the categorisations which he has adopted as Latour in particular has sought to critique all three areas Potter identified and collapse many of their apparent distinctions.

The second and concise section of the book argues against cognitivism with its reliance on mental models and ideas and focuses instead on discourse not only in texts, which has been a topic of much interesting accounting research, but in, what Potter calls, talk in action. Potter is interested in how factual accounts are organised and how they are fitted into particular situations. Discourse provides the detail to seek to analyse how factuality is established and also how such factuality is called in question. Potter argues that factual accounts combine two orientations: an action orientation and an epistemological orientation. An action orientation uses a description to accomplish an action and can be analysed to see how it is constructed to enable this action to occur. An epistemological orientation is concerned with how to make a description appear more factual through either drawing on the knowledgability of the describer or through creating distance and independence between the speaker and the description. Most importantly, this epistemological orientation is not concerned with abstract philosophical concerns but focuses on “a practical, situated concern with making a description credible” (p. 121).

What may be becoming clear is that Potter is particularly interested in the analysis of conversation embedded in text or captured by tape recording. The third part of the book develops the themes identified by Potter: the ways in which the identity of the describer can be built up to improve the credibility of the account he furnishes; the ways in which an account can be constructed so that what it describes is taken as factual; and the ways in which representations are used to perform certain actions. Potter uses a selection of social research findings and examples drawn from a variety of settings to illustrate his detailed and interesting arguments.

One of the interesting features of this book is that it approaches the topic of “constructivism” from a different angle than much of existing accounting research. Potter is more interested in examples from practice, which admittedly is equated with language, than in overarching concepts of regimes of calculation or discourse. He provides clear analysis and critique of different ploys in the writing of text which will be useful to all those engaged in constructing accounts of all kinds. However, his detailed discussions on conversation are some of the most interesting parts of the book and perhaps the one of the least explored areas in accounting research. In part Potter’s analysis appears to stem from ethnomethodology and its interest in how people account for their actions to others but Potter is aware of the issues of power relations that such an analysis must consider. With the advent of the tape recorder (and video camera) it is possible to “capture” ephemeral conversation and its analysis shows the thorough going and subtle construction of facts that seem to be part and parcel of daily conversation within and outside of organisations. Where to take things from such insights is itself an interesting question. Within accounting research a focus on this aspect of accountability and the work that goes on prior to the construction of material accounts is likely to be extremely interesting. Another related line of research is to attempt to enrich theories which are either avowedly post structuralist or which seek to collapse the gap between the micro and the macro situation. Actor network theory would be one such example (see Munro, 1997). One aspect I find interesting is that this focus on conversation shows a complexity of behaviour which undermines many remaining assumptions about individuals being “cultural dopes” but it also shows a mechanical or routine nature of much of this very sophisticated interaction. This points to the intricacy of how identities such as “competent accountants” are created and maintained and the importance of accountability in all parts of people’s lives.

To conclude, this book provides an interesting introduction to varieties of constructivist argument drawn from different areas of the social sciences. Its wide scope makes it useful for experienced researchers particularly if they have limited familiarity to the important work deriving from conversational analysis and parts of the sociology of scientific knowledge. However, I expect it to be most useful to those embarking on research in accounting by introducing and critiquing important arguments in constructivism and providing avenues for further reading. What the reader will not find is a mechanical application to accounting. Perhaps it is an even better book than I thought!

Edited by Jim Haslam with the support of Soon Nam Kim and Paul Nickles, University of Waikato, Te Whare Wánanga o Waikato