RIS ID
12934
Abstract
This article reflects on the way in which accounting-related thinking influenced one particular historical event: the process of deinstitutionalisation from mental hospitals in New South Wales. The article suggests that accounting (via economic rationalism and other allied philosophical lenses ) led to the under funding of the deinstitutionalisation process to the detriment of society as a whole. Some of the societal difficulties inherent in using such rationalist calculus (biased towards quantified, monetary, accounting entity assumptions) as a means of evaluating social policies are then considered.
Publication Details
Smark, C. J. (2005). Rationalism's irrationality - an example from Australian mental health policy. 2005 Critical Perspectives on Accounting (pp. 1-33). New York: Baruch College, City University of New York.