NORMAS DE CONTROL INTERNO
NORMAS BÁSICAS PARA EL AMBIENTE DE CONTROL 1.1 Filosofía de la Dirección
Bourdieu’s concept of field is central to understanding how and why ethnic minority accountants are discriminated against. Field, along with capital and habitus, forms a triad at the core of Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice. It cannot be considered without reference to the other two (ref: Appendix IV). In the following review, capital and habitus are invoked whenever needed in the description of field.
Bourdieu presents a field as an arena where people with different forms of capital and habitus struggle against each other. They struggle under the rules of the collective habitus, i.e., the “taken for granted” ideologies in the field. The ideologies validate the forms of capital, and determine the outcomes of their competition in the field. Examining these ideologies provides a further focus for the results of this study, and can be seen as manifested in the five topics listed below.
Bourdieu is of the view that those people whose forms of capital and habitus best fit within the field ideologies are most likely to be ‘the winners’; and those without, ‘the losers’. In terms of clarifying who the winners and losers are, Chapter Five (Figure 5.1
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in particular) tells part of the story, and highlights three ethnic groups who were potentially discriminated against. However, it does not clearly identify whether it is only one or two of the ethnic minority groups (Chinese and Indian) who suffer discrimination, or whether discrimination is also experienced by other ethnicities. In other words, the earlier analysis in Chapter Five did not directly address the gap, left by both James and Otsuka (2009) and Annisette and Trivedi (2013); that is, what ethnicities are explicitly discriminated against.
Within a field, capital takes three fundamental forms: economic capital, cultural capital and social capital; for these forms to be effective, they must be recognised by those people in the field, and take on a symbolic form (in their minds and mentalities). In this sense, all capital is symbolic in nature (ref: Section 3.4). The symbolic form is where the fundamental forms unite and integrate with each other, and thereby produces the mechanism to mobilise those in the field to compete effectively. The process by which the fundamental forms of capital, in particular, skills and attributes (typically, economic capital), and social and cultural backgrounds (typically socially-constructed capital), are integrated with each other in the field of an employment market, is key to a complete understanding of the challenges for new entrants to that market.
Bourdieu perceives that a profession (and its employment market) is a field which appears natural, and impartial to different groups; but in fact favours one group over another (ref: Section 3.3). Bourdieu’s view is supported by the study of Richardson (1987), who claims accounting (and its associated professional environment) is both a tool and a social context where people are discriminated based on their social and cultural backgrounds. The findings of this study also supports this view.
Further, if accounting is used as a tool that favours one group over another, then it is likely that aspirant accountants who are less favoured will be unable to have their potential duly recognised by some accountant employers. This is not a new situation, as in the past women did not have their potential recognised in the accountant employment market and were thus excluded from the accounting profession (Ikin et al., 2012). It is likely, as suggested in this and other prior research, that ethnic minority accountants also suffer the same problem.
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Furthermore, Bourdieu perceives that a field consists of different aspects (or sub-fields); and most importantly, the different aspects of the field appreciate different forms of capital (ref: Appendix IV). The relationship between field aspects and capital is a dynamic one, as they co-respond to each other. Such a dynamic relationship has been used by different groups to access the accountant employment market and the accounting profession. For example, women used it to access the Australian accountant employment market during the World War II (Ikin et al, 2012). It was also used by Francophone accountants to enter the accounting profession in Quebec of Canada (Spence & Brivot, 2011). Chapter Six identified and discussed the strategies that could be or were used to gain employment rather than to reveal the dynamic relationship of capital and field. For example, the “seeking a niche” section (ref: Section 6.3.2) explains what the strategy was and what a niche could be rather than exploring the logic by which “seeking a niche” works. An exploration of this logic would enable ethnic minority accountants to better understand the “seeking a niche” concept, so that they can create their own opportunities to use it in future.
Given the above consideration of the accounting profession field, further analysis of five topics can be undertaken. These topics are:
a) The “taken for granted” ideologies that impact on the accountant employment market;
b) The groups who may suffer discrimination on the basis of ethnicity;
c) How skills and attributes are integrated with social and cultural backgrounds; d) The function of hegemony in the processes of discrimination; and
e) Making use of dynamics between capital and field to overcome discrimination