Budgetary earmarking and the control of the extravagant woman in Australia, 1850-1920
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Walker, Stephen
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Critical Perspectives on Accounting Vol. 18, no. 2 (2007), p. 233-261
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Australian women (and Melbournian women in particular) were chastised for extravagance in dress. Excessive expenditure on fashionable clothing was considered a threat to personal solvency and domestic tranquillity. Female profligacy was also deemed self indulgent and unpatriotic in periods of economic and military crisis. Drawing on Zelizer's [Zelizer VA. The social meaning of money. New York: Basic Books; 1994] study of The social meaning of money the paper examines how the state attempted to contain female extravagance in dress by re-orientating spending priorities in household budgets. The earmarking ideology of patriotic thrift was conveyed by apparatuses such as cultural and communications media, the political system and voluntary associations. The earmarking ideology represented an onslaught on fashionable dress, a means of asserting feminine identity in a patriarchal society. The study reveals budgetary earmarking as a social process, which is reflective and constitutive of gendered asymmetries of power in the home.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005200
Household accounting in Australia : A microhistorical study
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Walker, Stephen
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 20, no. 2 (2007), p. 210-236
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to extend the work of Carnegie and Walker and report the results of Part 2 of their study on household accounting in Australia during the period from the 1820s to the 1960s. Design/methodology/ approach - The study adopts a microhistorical approach involving a detailed examination of actual accounting practices in the Australian home based on 18 sets of surviving household records identified as exemplars and supplemented by other sources which permit their contextualisation and interpretation. Findings - The findings point to considerable variety in the accounting practices pursued by individuals and families. Household accounting in Australia was undertaken by both women and men of the middle and landed classes whose surviving household accounts were generally found to comprise one element of diverse and comprehensive personal record keeping systems. The findings indicate points of convergence and divergence in relation to the contemporary prescriptive literature and practice. Originality/value - The paper reflects on the implications of the findings for the notion of the household as a unit of consumption as opposed to production, gender differences in accounting practice and financial responsibility, the relationship between changes in the life course and the commencement and cessation of household accounting, and the relationship between domestic accounting practice and social class. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005180
Household accounting in Australia : Prescription and practice from the 1820s to the 1960s
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Walker, Stephen
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 20, no. 1 (2007), p. 41-73
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose - Beyond the public world of work, the home provides an arena for examining accounting and gender in everyday life. This study aims to examine household accounting in Australia from the early nineteenth to around the mid-twentieth century. Design/methodology/approach - The study comprises two parts. The first part, as reported in this paper, presents evidence on household accounting as prescribed in the didactic literature in Australia, and evidence of actual accounting practices based on the examination of 76 sets of surviving Australian household records available in public repositories. The second part adopts a microhistorical approach involving the detailed scrutiny of 18 sets of accounting records and relevant biographical and family data on the household accountants involved. Findings - The study indicates that household accounting was an instrument for restraining female consumption, particularly during times of crises, and that accounting in Australian homes focussed on maintaining records of routine transactions as opposed to the preparation of budgets and financial statements. Household accounting in Australia was performed by women and men. The surviving records examined suggest that while areas of financial responsibility were defined by gender there was little evidence of formalised hierarchical accountability between spouses as has been found to be the case in Britain. Originality/value - The study extends knowledge of household accounting and gender. Most historical investigations on this subject draw on instructional literature. The current investigation also examines accounting practice in the home. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005179