Sam Dallyn | Manchester Business shool (original) (raw)

Papers by Sam Dallyn

Management Learning, Sep 29, 2023

Sociology, Jun 25, 2015

In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is... more In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is in decline. We present a more sanguine fate of this figure, arguing that today we observe a flourishing of intellectuals. One such figure is the academic intellectual who has often been looked at with suspicion as a technical specialist. This conception suggests that university intellectuals are diluted versions of the historical conception of the 'true' public intellectual-that is, an 'independent spirit' that fearlessly challenges unjust power. In this article, we contest this view, arguing that this historical conception, idealised as it may be, nevertheless can inform scholastic activities. By resituating the public intellectual as a kind of temperament rather than a title, we examine its pressing-but at the same time uneasy-relevance to contemporary academic life. Counterposing this with contemporary instrumental conceptions of research impact, we suggest that where possible the intellectual academic should aspire to go beyond academic institutional norms and requirements. Hence, the academic public intellectual refers to a temperament, which is in but not of the academic profession.

Does development need management? Or what is the relationship between development and manageriali... more Does development need management? Or what is the relationship between development and managerialism? These are questions that might immediately occur to one when taking a first glance at Dar and Cooke’s rich collection of essays entitled The New Development Management. But Hugh Willmott’s foreword and Arturo Escobar’s afterword (senior thinkers from the critical management studies – CMS – tradition and the critical development studies – CDS – tradition respectively) already begin to address such questions by placing the book in context. Dar and Cooke’s first chapter establishes an important link between CMS ‘alternative’ perspectives, key thinkers of which being Alvesson and Willmott (1996), and post-development thinking and its central thinkers, such as Ferguson (1994) and Escobar (1995). However, this book is characterised by a broad and diverse range of theoretical approaches brought together with insight and critical acumen from post-colonial theory (Kenny), with particularly va...

Accounting Forum, 2016

Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of acc... more Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of accounting practice. One reason for this has been the civil society campaign opposing tax avoidance. The paper provides a case study of one key civil society actor: the Tax Justice Network (TJN). Existing accounting analysis offers little to explain how some accounting issues acquire political attention and media coverage. To address this, the concept of political salience is introduced into accounting analysis-understood as the creation of focal points in campaigns-to consider how the TJN contributed to the political profile of CTA.

Innovation, 2007

... change. In critical entrepreneurship there is an emphasis upon the social and public dimensio... more ... change. In critical entrepreneurship there is an emphasis upon the social and public dimensions of the concept (see Anderson et al., 2006; Hjorth and Bjerke, 2006; Lindgren and Packendorf, 2003; Steyaert and Katz, 2004). ...

Organization, 2013

In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of ... more In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of organizations. By drawing out and making explicit the researcher’s role in naming a social phenomenon as ideological, I argue that a more consistent, reflexive and critically attuned notion of the ideological can be developed. The neglect of the position of the researcher in critical conceptions of ideology stems largely from a problematic division in existing approaches between the researcher, as objective expert, and researched. As an alternative, I build on the idea of research reflexivity in organization studies to develop a notion of ideology in which the partial position of the researcher is rendered explicit. To illustrate this conception of naming the ideological, I characterize the norms and practices of Job Centres as reflecting an ideology of capitalist welfare regulation. The article presents a fresh way of conceptualizing ideology as a reflexive analytical concept which can ...

Cederström and Fleming's Dead Man Working, published by Zero Books, is an interesting interventio... more Cederström and Fleming's Dead Man Working, published by Zero Books, is an interesting intervention that gives us a chance to ponder a question, which should be the guiding question for aspiring public intellectuals and academics of a critical bent: Who are we writing for? In the present context of UK business schools, where the pressure to maximize point scoring on the Association of Business Schools (ABS) journal ranking list (see Dunne and Harney, forthcoming; Willmott, 2011) has been increasingly enforced by university management, the profoundly important question of who our audience is, and who we should be aiming to articulate our ideas to, is precisely the question that gets lost. The question that needs to be posed here is who actually reads the material produced in elite, restricted access academic journals? And in addition to this, do these heavily confined forums ever present a serious opportunity to affect any kind of widespread radicalization or social change? In exploring the question of what the critical enterprise is, or should be, one is also faced with a set of issues surrounding the demise of the public intellectual (Jacoby, 2000). If we believe in critique-and some of us may not have entirely given up hope about believing in an alternative-then considering whom we are articulating ephemera: theory & politics in organization

Human Relations, 2020

While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to und... more While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to understand workplace relations, we argue that they offer a limited analytical range when investigating conduct in public institutions where work still has sizeable elements of discretion – despite the increasing demands of performance measurement that have been a central component of new public management. Here, we investigate the HBO series, The Wire, and situate it as a piece of social science fiction. By affording more attention to the different ‘codes’ of policework depicted on the show we develop a more pluralistic understanding of workplace conduct. In tracing out different normative orders that characterize these codes, we consider The Wire’s Cedric Daniels’ distinctive positioning in relation to performance measurement and the predominant normative order of ‘the numbers game’ and argue that he consistently displays the code of an ethical bureaucrat.

Sociology, 2015

In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is... more In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is in decline. We present a more sanguine fate of this figure, arguing that today we observe a flourishing of intellectuals. One such figure is the academic intellectual who has often been looked at with suspicion as a technical specialist. This conception suggests that university intellectuals are diluted versions of the historical conception of the ‘true’ public intellectual – that is, an ‘independent spirit’ that fearlessly challenges unjust power. In this article, we contest this view, arguing that this historical conception, idealised as it may be, nevertheless can inform scholastic activities. By resituating the public intellectual as a kind of temperament rather than a title, we examine its pressing – but at the same time uneasy – relevance to contemporary academic life. Counterposing this with contemporary instrumental conceptions of research impact, we suggest that where possible ...

While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to und... more While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to understand workplace relations, we argue that they offer a limited analytical range when investigating conduct in public institutions where work still has sizeable elements of discretion-despite the increasing demands of performance measurement that have been a central component of new public management. Here, we investigate the HBO series, The Wire, and situate it as a piece of social science fiction. By affording more attention to the different 'codes' of policework depicted on the show we develop a more pluralistic understanding of workplace conduct. In tracing out different normative orders that characterize these codes, we consider The Wire's Cedric Daniels' distinctive positioning in relation to performance measurement and the predominant normative order of 'the numbers game' and argue that he consistently displays the code of an ethical bureaucrat.

Journal of Cultural Economy

Since its creation in 2009 the electronic currency Bitcoin has generated volumes of online debate... more Since its creation in 2009 the electronic currency Bitcoin has generated volumes of online debate in the business press. While there have been plenty of economic arguments situating it as a financial bubble about to collapse including from Nobel Prize winning economists; its price value has proven to be more durable than many have predicted. To explain this durability, Karpik's conception of market singularities is used to understand the Bitcoin phenomenon by outlining the beliefs that maintain Bitcoin's status as a volatile financial asset. Market singularities are markets for particular kinds of goods and services that are of uncertain and incommensurable value. Singularities markets have communities of followers and a distinctive belief system that ascribes value to a particular product, service, or asset. Developing Karpik's conception, the paper explores the libertarian political belief system that surrounds Bitcoin's status as a financial asset. I also outline some political tensions within the electronic currency community concerning governance and centralization.

Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of acc... more Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of accounting practice. One reason for this has been the civil society campaign opposing tax avoidance. The paper provides a case study of one key civil society actor: the Tax Justice Network (TJN). Existing accounting analysis offers little to explain how some accounting issues acquire political attention and media coverage. To address this, the concept of political salience is introduced into accounting analysis -understood as the creation of focal points in campaigns -to consider how the TJN contributed to the political profile of CTA.

In this paper we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is i... more In this paper we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is in decline. We present a more sanguine fate of this figure, arguing that today we observe a flourishing of intellectuals. One such figure is the academic intellectual who has often been looked at with suspicion as a technical specialist. This conception suggests that university intellectuals are diluted versions of the historical conception of the ‘true’ public intellectual – that is, an ‘independent spirit’ that fearlessly challenges unjust power. In this paper, we contest this view, arguing that this historical conception, idealised as it may be, nevertheless can inform scholastic activities. By resituating the public intellectual as a kind of temperament rather than a title, we examine its pressing – but at the same time uneasy – relevance to contemporary academic life. Counter posing this with contemporary instrumental conceptions of research impact, we suggest that where possible the intellectual academic should aspire to go beyond academic institutional norms and requirements. Hence, the academic public intellectual refers to a temperament, which is in but not of the academic profession.

In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of ... more In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of organizations. By drawing out and making explicit the researcher's role in naming a social phenomenon as ideological, I argue that a more consistent, reflexive and critically attuned notion of the ideological can be developed. The neglect of the position of the researcher in critical conceptions of ideology stems largely from a problematic division in existing approaches between the researcher, as objective expert, and researched. As an alternative, I build on the idea of research reflexivity in organization studies to develop a notion of ideology in which the partial position of the researcher is rendered explicit. To illustrate this conception of naming the ideological, I characterize the norms and practices of Job Centres as reflecting an ideology of capitalist welfare regulation. The article presents a fresh way of conceptualizing ideology as a reflexive analytical concept which can fruitfully be brought to bear on different aspects of organizations.

Central to her analysis is the complex relations between race, capital and gender within circuits... more Central to her analysis is the complex relations between race, capital and gender within circuits of transnational capitalism as expressed in literature, animation and particularly cinema. Her broad range of cultural engagements and theoretical encounters makes for an extremely enjoyable read. One of the most welcome aspects of the book is its situating of particular cultural products in light of the complex transnational material frames of their production and consumption.

Journal of Political Ideologies, 2011

In contemporary political theory, the analysis of politics and social relations rests predominant... more In contemporary political theory, the analysis of politics and social relations rests predominantly on a problematic opposition between openness and closure, reflected concretely around the normative poles of pluralism and stability. The principal aim of this paper is to show how openness and pluralism work actually to strengthen a given social order. Where as past models stress the ‘closed’ character of ideology, we contend instead, drawing on the War on Terror as a key example, that social relations are stabilized and ideological domination occurs through the allowance for certain pluralisms and political choices over others. Specifically, openness, manifested concretely in pluralism as its practical instantiation, is politically delimited in such a way that it serves to institute and maintain social order. The central claim therefore is that political pluralism stabilizes social relations and determinations of the self around fixed points of contestation. This insight in turn begins to build the way for a dynamic rethinking of social order in relation to the two poles of openness/pluralism and closure/stability.

Management Learning, Sep 29, 2023

Sociology, Jun 25, 2015

Accounting Forum, 2016

Innovation, 2007

Organization, 2013

Human Relations, 2020

Sociology, 2015

In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is... more In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is in decline. We present a more sanguine fate of this figure, arguing that today we observe a flourishing of intellectuals. One such figure is the academic intellectual who has often been looked at with suspicion as a technical specialist. This conception suggests that university intellectuals are diluted versions of the historical conception of the ‘true’ public intellectual – that is, an ‘independent spirit’ that fearlessly challenges unjust power. In this article, we contest this view, arguing that this historical conception, idealised as it may be, nevertheless can inform scholastic activities. By resituating the public intellectual as a kind of temperament rather than a title, we examine its pressing – but at the same time uneasy – relevance to contemporary academic life. Counterposing this with contemporary instrumental conceptions of research impact, we suggest that where possible ...

While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to und... more While the categories of control and resistance have provided important frames of reference to understand workplace relations, we argue that they offer a limited analytical range when investigating conduct in public institutions where work still has sizeable elements of discretion-despite the increasing demands of performance measurement that have been a central component of new public management. Here, we investigate the HBO series, The Wire, and situate it as a piece of social science fiction. By affording more attention to the different 'codes' of policework depicted on the show we develop a more pluralistic understanding of workplace conduct. In tracing out different normative orders that characterize these codes, we consider The Wire's Cedric Daniels' distinctive positioning in relation to performance measurement and the predominant normative order of 'the numbers game' and argue that he consistently displays the code of an ethical bureaucrat.

Journal of Cultural Economy

Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of acc... more Corporate tax avoidance (CTA) has become a high profile issue despite being a complex area of accounting practice. One reason for this has been the civil society campaign opposing tax avoidance. The paper provides a case study of one key civil society actor: the Tax Justice Network (TJN). Existing accounting analysis offers little to explain how some accounting issues acquire political attention and media coverage. To address this, the concept of political salience is introduced into accounting analysis -understood as the creation of focal points in campaigns -to consider how the TJN contributed to the political profile of CTA.

In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of ... more In this article I develop a reflexive conception of ideology that can be applied to the study of organizations. By drawing out and making explicit the researcher's role in naming a social phenomenon as ideological, I argue that a more consistent, reflexive and critically attuned notion of the ideological can be developed. The neglect of the position of the researcher in critical conceptions of ideology stems largely from a problematic division in existing approaches between the researcher, as objective expert, and researched. As an alternative, I build on the idea of research reflexivity in organization studies to develop a notion of ideology in which the partial position of the researcher is rendered explicit. To illustrate this conception of naming the ideological, I characterize the norms and practices of Job Centres as reflecting an ideology of capitalist welfare regulation. The article presents a fresh way of conceptualizing ideology as a reflexive analytical concept which can fruitfully be brought to bear on different aspects of organizations.

Journal of Political Ideologies, 2011