Crawford Spence
Biographic Data
| ID | 162777 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Crawford Spence |
| GIVEN NAMES | Crawford |
| FAMILY NAME | Spence |
| SIGNATURE | SPENCE C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Warwick |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7290-244X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 127 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Trading in the end times
Literature on economic theology highlights the importance of myths and imaginaries to the shaping of economic action. Faith in the workings of contemporary capitalism often presupposes belief in dynamics of a metaphysical character, such as ‘market forces’ or ‘the invisible hand’. Yet we know less about how the faith-based dispositions of financial occupations support specific economic practices. This is important because economic reform might be…
Conservative critique, resisting regulation
Culture is increasingly articulated by financial actors and financial firms as a solution to the dislocations of contemporary capitalism. It therefore matters, not just how actors behave, but how they articulate culture and what importance they accord it. Drawing on pragmatist sociology, the present paper takes this injunction seriously and reports the findings of a field study involving 29 interviews with senior members of financial firms whose …
Active fund managers and the rise of passive investing
Financial markets have witnessed a dramatic shift in financial flows in recent years from Active fund management where professional investors attempt to beat the market (generate ‘alpha’) to Passive investment where portfolios are assembled that follow existing market indicators (track ‘beta’). This transition has important implications for both corporate governance and wider society, with potentially significant distributive effects. Passive inv…
Strategic change, leadership and accounting
Strategic change in public sector organizations has been well documented. This article suggests that public management research would benefit from a greater appreciation of how calculative practices are deeply imbricated with, and constitutive of, organizational life. In turn, the article argues that the field of interdisciplinary accounting has much to learn from public administration, especially in terms of leadership. The overarching argument …
When the past comes back to haunt you
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Professionals with borders
Recent claims assert that the transnational has displaced the national in importance vis-à-vis the governance of international professional organizations. Crucial to such claims are assumptions about rising geographical mobilityandtheemergenceofcosmopolitanprofessionalswhoareincreasinglydetachedfromnationalprofessional regimes and contexts. We interrogate claims about the importance of transnational spaces through a crossnational study of global …
Noise
Noise is a fascinating account of an under-researched sub-group of the investing population: retail traders. ‘Traders’ is important nomenclature here, rather than ‘investors’, because the focus is
Social Accounting
Social accounting denotes the enhanced accountability of corporations vis‐à‐vis their social and environmental impact. It has grown significantly as an academic project in recent years, just as corporate social responsibility has become enshrined institutionally in the business world. A number of critiques of social accounting have been made from sociologically informed viewpoints
Taste matters
Recent literature suggests that elites are increasingly fragmented and divided. Yet there is very little empirical research that maps the distinctions between different elite groups. This article explores the cultural divisions that pertain to elite factions in two distinct but proximate Strategic Action Fields. A key insight from the article is that the public sector faction studied exhibits a much broader, more aesthetic set of cultural disposi…
Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field
The sociology of the professions has shied away from cross-national comparative work. Yet research in different professional jurisdictions emphasizes the transnational nature of professional fields. Further work is therefore needed that explores the extent to which transnational professional fields are characterized by unity or heterogeneity. To that end, this article presents the results of a qualitative interrogation of the habitus of partners …
Global ends, local means
An expanding institutionalist literature on professional service firms (PSFs) emphasizes that these are ridden by contradictions, paradoxes and conflicting logics. More specifically, literature looking at PSFs in a global context has highlighted how these contradictions prevent firms from becoming truly global in nature. What it takes to make partner in the Big 4 is at the core of such interrogations because partners belong to global firms yet ar…
An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms
The meaning of professionalism is changing, with the commercial pressures of globalization exerting dramatic pressures on the nature of professional work and the skill sets required of professionals. This article engages with this debate by reporting on a qualitative, empirical study undertaken in a domain that has been largely neglected by sociology: professional accounting. Focusing on the elite 'Big 4' accounting firms, the ways in which partn…
Comptabiliser l'intellect général
Cet article soutient que la célébration autonomiste du travail immatériel est prématurée. En montrant de quelles façons les calculs comptables pénètrent la vie sociale et continuent à organiser l'expropriation systématique du general intellect , il suggère qu'il y a des obstacles réels à la transcendance de la discipline capitaliste. Plus la socialisation du travail le rend hors-mesure, plus agités et plus élaborés sont les efforts du capital pou…
The rebirth of politics in Bolivia
Purpose The aim of this paper is to consider the role of mass mobilisations against international business in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state, relating this to recent studies looking at the scope of resistance to international business. Design/methodology/approach The analysis draws from a series of formal interviews with key political actors in Bolivia which were part of a wider ethnographic study expl…
Social Accountability and Governance
Recent accounting scandals such as Enron, Parmalat, and WorldCom have concentrated attention on the accountability and governance of corporations. Social accounting has been described and critiqued from a variety of positions, ranging from right‐wing neoliberal critiques all the way through to Marxist and deep green critiques. The different positions taken on the desirability or otherwise of social accounting can be understood by considering the …
An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms
The meaning of professionalism is changing, with the commercial pressures of globalization exerting dramatic pressures on the nature of professional work and the skill sets required of professionals. This article engages with this debate by reporting on a qualitative, empirical study undertaken in a domain that has been largely neglected by sociology: professional accounting. Focusing on the elite 'Big 4' accounting firms, the ways in which partn…
Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field
The sociology of the professions has shied away from cross-national comparative work. Yet research in different professional jurisdictions emphasizes the transnational nature of professional fields. Further work is therefore needed that explores the extent to which transnational professional fields are characterized by unity or heterogeneity. To that end, this article presents the results of a qualitative interrogation of the habitus of partners …
Global ends, local means
An expanding institutionalist literature on professional service firms (PSFs) emphasizes that these are ridden by contradictions, paradoxes and conflicting logics. More specifically, literature looking at PSFs in a global context has highlighted how these contradictions prevent firms from becoming truly global in nature. What it takes to make partner in the Big 4 is at the core of such interrogations because partners belong to global firms yet ar…
When the past comes back to haunt you
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Taste matters
Recent literature suggests that elites are increasingly fragmented and divided. Yet there is very little empirical research that maps the distinctions between different elite groups. This article explores the cultural divisions that pertain to elite factions in two distinct but proximate Strategic Action Fields. A key insight from the article is that the public sector faction studied exhibits a much broader, more aesthetic set of cultural disposi…
Professionals with borders
Recent claims assert that the transnational has displaced the national in importance vis-à-vis the governance of international professional organizations. Crucial to such claims are assumptions about rising geographical mobilityandtheemergenceofcosmopolitanprofessionalswhoareincreasinglydetachedfromnationalprofessional regimes and contexts. We interrogate claims about the importance of transnational spaces through a crossnational study of global …
Strategic change, leadership and accounting
Strategic change in public sector organizations has been well documented. This article suggests that public management research would benefit from a greater appreciation of how calculative practices are deeply imbricated with, and constitutive of, organizational life. In turn, the article argues that the field of interdisciplinary accounting has much to learn from public administration, especially in terms of leadership. The overarching argument …
Active fund managers and the rise of passive investing
Financial markets have witnessed a dramatic shift in financial flows in recent years from Active fund management where professional investors attempt to beat the market (generate ‘alpha’) to Passive investment where portfolios are assembled that follow existing market indicators (track ‘beta’). This transition has important implications for both corporate governance and wider society, with potentially significant distributive effects. Passive inv…
Social Accountability and Governance
Recent accounting scandals such as Enron, Parmalat, and WorldCom have concentrated attention on the accountability and governance of corporations. Social accounting has been described and critiqued from a variety of positions, ranging from right‐wing neoliberal critiques all the way through to Marxist and deep green critiques. The different positions taken on the desirability or otherwise of social accounting can be understood by considering the …
The rebirth of politics in Bolivia
Purpose The aim of this paper is to consider the role of mass mobilisations against international business in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state, relating this to recent studies looking at the scope of resistance to international business. Design/methodology/approach The analysis draws from a series of formal interviews with key political actors in Bolivia which were part of a wider ethnographic study expl…
Comptabiliser l'intellect général
Cet article soutient que la célébration autonomiste du travail immatériel est prématurée. En montrant de quelles façons les calculs comptables pénètrent la vie sociale et continuent à organiser l'expropriation systématique du general intellect , il suggère qu'il y a des obstacles réels à la transcendance de la discipline capitaliste. Plus la socialisation du travail le rend hors-mesure, plus agités et plus élaborés sont les efforts du capital pou…
An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms
The meaning of professionalism is changing, with the commercial pressures of globalization exerting dramatic pressures on the nature of professional work and the skill sets required of professionals. This article engages with this debate by reporting on a qualitative, empirical study undertaken in a domain that has been largely neglected by sociology: professional accounting. Focusing on the elite 'Big 4' accounting firms, the ways in which partn…
Global ends, local means
An expanding institutionalist literature on professional service firms (PSFs) emphasizes that these are ridden by contradictions, paradoxes and conflicting logics. More specifically, literature looking at PSFs in a global context has highlighted how these contradictions prevent firms from becoming truly global in nature. What it takes to make partner in the Big 4 is at the core of such interrogations because partners belong to global firms yet ar…
Social Accounting
Social accounting denotes the enhanced accountability of corporations vis‐à‐vis their social and environmental impact. It has grown significantly as an academic project in recent years, just as corporate social responsibility has become enshrined institutionally in the business world. A number of critiques of social accounting have been made from sociologically informed viewpoints
Taste matters
Recent literature suggests that elites are increasingly fragmented and divided. Yet there is very little empirical research that maps the distinctions between different elite groups. This article explores the cultural divisions that pertain to elite factions in two distinct but proximate Strategic Action Fields. A key insight from the article is that the public sector faction studied exhibits a much broader, more aesthetic set of cultural disposi…
Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field
The sociology of the professions has shied away from cross-national comparative work. Yet research in different professional jurisdictions emphasizes the transnational nature of professional fields. Further work is therefore needed that explores the extent to which transnational professional fields are characterized by unity or heterogeneity. To that end, this article presents the results of a qualitative interrogation of the habitus of partners …
Noise
Noise is a fascinating account of an under-researched sub-group of the investing population: retail traders. ‘Traders’ is important nomenclature here, rather than ‘investors’, because the focus is
Strategic change, leadership and accounting
Strategic change in public sector organizations has been well documented. This article suggests that public management research would benefit from a greater appreciation of how calculative practices are deeply imbricated with, and constitutive of, organizational life. In turn, the article argues that the field of interdisciplinary accounting has much to learn from public administration, especially in terms of leadership. The overarching argument …
When the past comes back to haunt you
Prior research generally presents work–family decisions as an individual’s rational choice between alternatives, downplaying the crucial role that upbringing plays in shaping work and parenting decisions. This article emphasizes how habitus – historically constituted and embodied dispositions – structures perceptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘normal’ for working mothers and fathers. This relational approach explores how the entrenched dispositio…
Professionals with borders
Recent claims assert that the transnational has displaced the national in importance vis-à-vis the governance of international professional organizations. Crucial to such claims are assumptions about rising geographical mobilityandtheemergenceofcosmopolitanprofessionalswhoareincreasinglydetachedfromnationalprofessional regimes and contexts. We interrogate claims about the importance of transnational spaces through a crossnational study of global …
Active fund managers and the rise of passive investing
Financial markets have witnessed a dramatic shift in financial flows in recent years from Active fund management where professional investors attempt to beat the market (generate ‘alpha’) to Passive investment where portfolios are assembled that follow existing market indicators (track ‘beta’). This transition has important implications for both corporate governance and wider society, with potentially significant distributive effects. Passive inv…
Conservative critique, resisting regulation
Culture is increasingly articulated by financial actors and financial firms as a solution to the dislocations of contemporary capitalism. It therefore matters, not just how actors behave, but how they articulate culture and what importance they accord it. Drawing on pragmatist sociology, the present paper takes this injunction seriously and reports the findings of a field study involving 29 interviews with senior members of financial firms whose …
Trading in the end times
Literature on economic theology highlights the importance of myths and imaginaries to the shaping of economic action. Faith in the workings of contemporary capitalism often presupposes belief in dynamics of a metaphysical character, such as ‘market forces’ or ‘the invisible hand’. Yet we know less about how the faith-based dispositions of financial occupations support specific economic practices. This is important because economic reform might be…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Economics (5 works) · Accounting (4 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (4 works) · Politics (4 works)