FROM THE POLITICS OF FEAR TO THE POLITICS OF EMANCIPATION

Abstract

This paper welcomes Stanley Martens and Elizabeth Murphy's contribution which urges accounting scholars to intervene in contemporary debates on accounting for healthcare and social security and develop alternative and more enabling forms of accounting. However, it argues that in ``the age of insecurity'', such calls need to be supplemented by an engagement with the ideologies of the New Right which encourage cut-backs and throw people to the mercy of the markets. It encourages critical accountants to contribute to a ``remaking of society'' by developing research programs which highlight the atrocities committed by ``markets''. The issues are illustrated with reference to the recent pensions debates in the UK.