Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 17, No. 3/d, pp. 3 13-34 1, 1992. 0361-3682/92 $5.00+.

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ACCOUNTING: FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE*

RUTH D. HINES
Macquurie University, Sydney

Abstract

The issue of this paper is not with the man-woman dichotomy, that is, gender, but with the Universal
Feminine and Universal Masculine, also called, in Oriental cultures, the ‘Yin” and ‘Yang”. From this
perspective, the interplay, tension, complementarity and union of opposites of the Universal Feminine and
Masculine, or Yin and Yang, is seen to pervade aUexistence. Reduction of the Interdependent Yin and Yang to
the materialist wo -man dichotomy leaves the source of many environmental and social problems
invisible and unaddressed. That source is a consciousness which is imbalanced towards the values and
orientation of the Yang, resulting from a cultural repression of the realm of the Yin. Accounting -
management, financial and International - represents a most extreme manifestation and embodiment of the
Yang. Mainstream accounting research also reflects and reproduces the Yang orientation, without a balancing
of and by the Yin. Alternative accounting research to the mainstream, may be seen as both reflecting and
socially constructing a reemergence of the values associated with the Yin.

There is and there is also is-not. Male is is, seeking is-not;
female is is-not, seeking is. So it is that in union so much
is found (Grigg, 1989, p. 193).
The fullness that is, is male; the emptiness that is not, is
female. What is and what is not equally make wholeness.
His maleness is form, the full and visible, the shown
and revealed. He is the spoken, the obvious and the
apparent; the answer without the lirst question.
Her femaleness is formless, the empty and invisible,
the hidden and concealed. She is the unspoken, the
secret and the mystery; the tirst question without any
answer (Grigg, 1989, p. 169).
“We sense our two sides, but we always represent them
with items We say that the two parts of us are the
soul and the body. Our mind and matter. Or good and
evil. God and Satan. We never realize, however, that we
are merely pairing things __. very much like pairing
coffee and tea, or bread and tortillas, or chili and
mustard. I tell you, we are weird animals. We get carried
away and in our madness we believe ourselves to be
making perfect sense”.
Don Juan stood up and addressed me as if he were an
orator “Man doesn’t move between good and evil”,
he said in a hilariously rhetorical tone, grabbing the salt
and pepper shakers in both hands, “His true movement
is between negativeness and positiveness” (Castaneda,
1976, p. 126).
The present worldwide domination of thinking,
discourse, decision-making and behaviour by
the language of accounting - linancial, manage-
ment, government and international - both
reflects and socially reproduces a particular set
of cultural values and conceptions of reality.
Accounting reflects and reproduces a view of
the world, as externally and concretely “out
there”, in a way which can be divided and
disassociated from the inner experience of
people. Reality can be known “objectively”
through accounting, uncontaminated by subjec-
tive feelings and desires. Through the accounting
gaze reality is seen to be divisible and quantlli-
able. Particular aspects of reality are identified,
named and so separated and delineated -

lMy thanks to Pat Allport, Tricia Barton, Elizabeth Cain, Peter Edwards, Zoe Fitzpatrick, Patricia Garland, Margaret Gillings,
Maureen Heffernan, Bob Mayze, Tom Ryan and Sue Wright.

313
314 RUTH D HINES

assets, liabilities, expenses, revenues, capital - Shiva; in Western psychology, Anima and
and these realities are combined, recombined, Animus, and in science, negative and positive
added and subtracted. In combination they poles and charges. Both these polar “opposites”
create and delimit the boundaries of organiza- exist within men and women, societies and
tions, and determine the equity rights or the world of nature and environment. Both
“share” of reality to which people are entitled. opposites exist in all life but one of them
From the accounting point of view, time is may be repressed or neglected, leading to
linear and divisible into sequential accounting an imbalance in favour of the other. Such
periods. Accrual adjustments enable the alloca- imbalance becomes antithetical to survival,
tion of reality to its proper time period, growth and wholeness, psychologically, physi-
enabling the calculation of accumulations of cally and spiritually.’
profits and wealth, or losses. The ideal or goal is What is at stake then in the debate over
to maximize productivity and profitability in gender in accounting, includes, but goes far
the minimum amount of time. People and other beyond, the suppression of women, to embrace
“resources” are valued according to their effici- the suppression of the values, perceptions, and
ency, that is, their ability to contribute to this ways of thinking, feeling, being and acting that
maximization of productivity and profitability. are associated with the Universal Feminine or
From the accounting viewpoint, and also that Yin. This suppression, in which the language of
of mainstream accounting research, which accounting is vitally implicated, affects the lived
reflects and socially reproduces the same values experience of both men and women, and has
and perceptions as accounting practice, the resulted in serious consequences not only for
world is rational, logical and analysable. society, but also for the natural environment.
Accounting calculations and measures provide The worldwide domination of thought by the
a basis for rational decision-making, enabling a values and assumptions which underlie the
rational, “efficient”, profit-maximizing, allocation language of accounting, both reflects and ex-
of resources. As well as being rationalist, tends a domination and repression of the realm
accounting is profoundly materialistic and of the Universal Feminine or Yin - the values
reductionistic. Accounting is concerned purely of caring, and sharing; the prioritizing of
with material reality - goods and services - feelings; the reality and value of the non-
but even more selectively than this, it only marketable and non-material; the importance
recognizes as realized, those aspects of these of the imaginative, intuitive and creative; a
that can be bought and sold in markets. vision of the wholeness and interdependence
These values, and perceptions of reality, of the world, and a knowledge of and faith
which the language of accounting embodies, in the creative potential of stillness, rest and
are those which throughout many cultures, silence.
philosophies, psychologies and spiritual tradi- One contention of this paper is that to focus
tions have been associated with what is called on the physical, external, hard and objective,
the “Ilniversal Masculine” or “Absolute such as the gender dichotomy of men and
Masculine”. women, is to engage in a discourse which, like
The Universal or Absolute Feminine and the accounting, and mainstream accounting re-
Universal or Absolute Masculine are also called, search, embodies and proliferates the Yang,
in Chinese philosophy, the Yin and Yang. In unbalanced by the Yin.
Indian philosophy, they are named Shakti and Discussions centring around hard, objective

’ As Iawlor ( 1990, p. 39) recognizes, the word “spiritual” has been used and abused in recent years to the point that its
meaning is either completely personalized or obscured. He, therefore, sets forth a definition, which will also be adopted in
this paper. He defines spirituality as “all our efforts to become more conscious of the energies and entities that exist outside
of our normal perception, including those immeasurable aspects of our own inner nature”.
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE
“structures” and “systems” such as “class” and
“capitalism” (e.g. Tinker & Neimark, 1987)
“patriarchy” and “profession” (e.g. Crompton,
1987) illuminate social “structures” which
realize and objectify Yang norms and values
within people and society. However, Hopwood
(1987a, p. 67) calls for “discussions . . de-
signed to provide some initial views of an as yet
invisible element of accounting’s functioning”,
and one contention of this paper is that to focus
exclusively on the reality which is “out there”
and concrete, is to reproduce the values and
conceptions which, as an extreme and un-
balanced Yang language and social practice,
accounting reproduces. It leaves invisible
and unactivated the energies of the Universal
Feminine or Yin: the soft, the inner, feeling as
well as reason, intuition as well as intellect, the
unconscious as well as conscious, the spiritual
as well as the material and physical, and
meditation, contemplation and rest as well as
action and striving. As Knights & Willmott
(1985, p. 40) recognize, “the emancipatory
potential of radical theory will not be realised
unless the interpenetration of the ‘structural’
and ‘existential’ dimensions of . . . life is fully
appreciated’ (also Willmott, 1986; Willmott &
Knights, 1982; Knights & Willmott, 1989).
Cirlot ( 1971, p. xliv) discusses the tendency,
especially prevalent in Western rationalist
culture, to “degrade the symbol” by “over-
particularization of interpretation of its mean-
ing”. For example, “from the Freudian school
onwards, the level of a great many symbolic
interpretations has been that of sexual activity”
(p. xhx). This reduction of the reality to which
a word-symbol refers, to the physical, excludes
the psychological and metaphysical.
One example of this kind of prejudiced interpretation
can be seen in the Freudians, who claimed to unveil the
universal sexuality of all objects and forms because they
demonstrably belonged to one or the other of two
broadly opposed groups: the masculine and the femi-
nine. But the Chinese, with their Yang-Yin symbol, and
the Hindus, and the Hebrews had long ago established
the essential polarity of the world of phenomena
according to generic principles, including [i.e. not
confined to] the sexual division (Cirlot, 1971, p. xlvii).
315
To reduce the polarities of the Yang and
Yin to physical maleness and femaleness and
also to relate these to social “structures”, is
not truly radical, since it reproduces the values
and conceptions of the day, and maintains the
exclusions of the day, reducing the possibilities
of emancipation, for both women and men.
Burrell ( 1987, p. 100) suggests that “in order
to free others, we must first free ourselves -
perhaps even from our own discipline”. And
that “we would be foolish to underestimate
how difiicult this will prove to be” (p. 100).
The work of Foucault (1971, 1979, 1982)
describes how power operates through the
construction of subjectivity, but Foucault gives
no clues as to how one may transcend one’s
subjectivity, and become a truly emancipatory
influence on others. But he does suggest (1982,
p. 216) that, “maybe the target nowadays is not
to discover what we are, but to refuse what we
are”. But how do we “refuse what we are”,
given that what we are is constituted by
discourse, and that forms of discourse are
constituted by, and ensure the reproduction of
society through forms of selection, exclusion
and domination (Young, 1981, p. 48)? The
answer would seem to lie in retrieving what is
not selected, what is excluded and suppressed.
What is presently excluded and repressed in
the world, highly reflected and reproduced
by accounting discourse and practice, and
mainstream accounting research, is all that
is associated with the Universal Feminine or
Yin.
YANG AND YIN
At the very roots of Chinese thinking and feeling there
lies the principle of polarity, which is not to be confused
with the ideas of opposition or conflict. In the
metaphors of other culmres, light is at war with
darkness, life with death, good with evil, and the
positive with the negative, and thus an idealism to
cultivate the former and be rid of the latter flourishes
throughout much of the world. To the traditional way of
Chinese thinking, this is as incomprehensible as an
electric current without both positive and negative
poles, for polarity is the principle that + and -, north
and south, are different aspects of one and the same
316 RUTH D. HINES

system, and that the disappearance of either one of them and is-not, are mutually generative and mutu-
would be the disappearance of the system. ally supportive, “for it is the great and imaginary
In Chinese the two poles of cosmic energy are yang terror of Western man that nothingness will be
(positive) and yin (negative) and they are associated the permanent end of the universe. We do not
with the masculine and feminine, the firm and the
easily grasp the point that the void is creative,
yielding, the strong and the weak, the light and the dark
and that being comes from nonbeing as sound
Thus the art of life is not seen as holding to yang and
banishing yin, but as keeping the two in balance from silence” (Watts, 1979, p. 23).
because there cannot be one without the other.. When Choudhury ( 1988) in attempting to redress
regarding them as the masculine and the feminine, the the Yang imbalance in accounting research
reference is not so much to male and female individuals
towards investigating extant accounting sys-
as to characteristics which are [or may be, especially
tems, investigates what must arise mutually
depending on cultural conditioning] dominant in, but
not confined to, each of the two sexes (Watts, 1979, with the presence of accounting, that is, the
pp. 19-21). absence of accounting. He commences his
In the realm of thought, yin is the complex, female, article (p. 549) with a quote from Lao Tzu
intuitive mind, yang the clear and rational male which expresses the Yang and Yin of the Tao.
intellect. Yin is the quiet contemplative stillness of the
sage, yang the strong, creative action of kings (Capra,
Thirty spokes are made one by holes in a hub
1983a, p. 119).
Together with the vacancies between them,
They comprise a wheel;
As Watts (1979, p. 20) points out, to those The use of clay in moulding pitchers
conditioned to the rationalist and materialist Comes from the hollow of its absence;
Western culture. the interdenendence of the Doors, windows in a house
Are used for their emptiness;
polar opposites is a frustrating conception,
Thus we are helped by what is not
because it seems to deny any possibility of
To use what is.
progress, an ideal which flows Tom our linear
(as distinct from cyclic) view of time and
At the same time that Lao Tzu and his
history. Indeed, the whole intent of Western
followers were developing their view of the
rationality and technology is to “make the
world or “Tao” as consisting of the interplay of
world a better place” - to have pleasure
polar opposites, in the sixth century B.C., the
without pain, wealth without poverty, and
essential features of this Taoistic view were
health without sickness. But, as Watts (1979,
being taught in Greece by the philosopher
p. 20) states:
Heraclitus of Ephesus. Like Lao Tzu, he saw that
all opposites are polar and thus united, rather
Hut, as is now becoming obvious, our violent efforts to
than logical and thus dualistic and separate
achieve this ideal with such weapons as DDT, penicillin,
nuclear energy, automotive transportation, computers, (Capra, 1983a, p. 128). “The words of
industrial farming, damming, and compelling everyone, Heraclitus - ‘Cold things warm themselves,
by law, to be superficially “good and healthy” are warm cools, moist dries, parched is made wet’
creating more problems that they solve. We have been - remind us strongly of those of Lao Tzu, ‘Easy
interfering with a complex system of relationships
gives rise to difficult . after follows before”’
which we do not understand, and the more we study its
details, the more it eludes us by revealing still more (Capra, 1983a, p. 128).
details to study. As we try to comprehend and control Common to both Heraclitus and the Taoists
the world it runs away from us. was a vision of the unity of the world. The
Western view is characterized by dualism: the
The key to the relationship between Yang split between body and mind, cause and effect,
and Yin is called hsiang sbeng - mutual arising subject and object, and so on. However, Yin and
or inseparability (Watts, 1969, 1979; May, Yang are not a dualism, they are interconnected
1988). But it is difficult in rationalist logic to like different, but inseparable, sides of a coin,
see that, for example, being and nonbeing, is the poles of a magnet, or pulse and interval in
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE
any vibration (Watts, 1979, p. 22; Watts, 1969;
Capra 1983a; May, 1988).
A similar conception of the world as consist-
ing of a dynamic interplay of polar opposites is
held in Indian philosophy. In Indian tantra
philosophy and psychology, the primordial
polarity is symbolized by Shiva, the Universal
Masculine principle, and Shakti, the Universal
Feminine. According to tantra, similar to the
Taoist, all human beings contain both
Masculine and Feminine potentials within
themselves but are not conscious of both. The
ultimate goal is to experience the union of
these two potentials. In this union, all polarities
within and without are transcended; one tran-
scends dualistic existence and experiences
“enlightenment” of unitary consciousness: all is
one, and one is all. Less evolved forms of tantra
may involve the ritualistic union of a man and a
woman, but this is a symbol of the union of the
primordial pair and thus of all polarities. In
higher forms of tantra, the outward projection
is withdrawn and no external ritual is used. The
yogi recognizes that his complement exists
within himself (Ajaya, 1983):
She who “shines like a chain of lights” in the centre of
his body is the “Inner Woman” to whom reference was
made when it was said, “What need have I of my outer
woman? I have an Inner Woman within myself” The
Yogi unites within himself his own principles, female
and male (Woodroffe. 1969, p. 442, cited by Ajaya,
1983, pp. 95-96).
Similarly, within the Jewish mystical tradi-
tion, the Kabbalah is a symbolic system express-
ing the fundamental pattern, the archetypal
structure of the cosmos, society and the
individual psyche. The Kabbalah (Cabala, or
Qabbala) contains the polar opposites of the
Universal Feminine and Universal Masculine,
often indicated as three pillars, the central pil-
lar signifying the union of all “opposites”
(Chetwynd, 1982; Cirlot, 1971; Dan & Kiener,
1986).
In the Hebrew tradition today, the marriage
between a man and a woman is not seen as an
end in itself, but as an adumbration of the
mystic marriage described in the spiritual
317
traditions. It is seen as an ongoing experience in
learning to transcend one’s ego and become
united with one’s polar opposite and this is a
training for achieving a still more perfect union,
a spiritual union between oneself and one’s
ideal, and ultimately between the masculine
and feminine aspects of the Divine (Ajaya,
1983, p. 93). The Kabbalistic tradition “re-
jected asceticism and continued to regard
marriage . . . as one of the most sacred mys-
teries. Every true marriage is a symbolic
realization of the union of God and the
Shekhinah” (Sholem, 1961, p. 235) (In the
Kabbalistic tradition the Shekhinah is con-
sidered to be the feminine aspect of God, and
also the dwelling place of the soul.)
On the other hand, the Christian church has
reflected and been a major factor in socially
constructing and reproducing a Yang world-
view, unbalanced by the Yin, resulting in
asceticism associated with a body (and especi-
ally sex and sensuality) versus spirit dualism,
and a repression of the Yin realm. The fear and
repression of sensuality, and woman, an incar-
nate symbol of the Universal Feminine, is a
reflection of this imbalance. “In taking her
stand, the church has separated . heaven and
earth, spirit and matter, soul and body, and in so
doing has damaged the human spirit, and has
been false to its own message of the Incarna-
tion” (Sanford, 1980a, p. 116).
The Yang imbalance in the Christian church
may be seen not only in the analytic dualizing
of spirit and body, but also in the strength of
the perceived virtue attaching to work, busi-
ness, efficiency, productivity and material pro-
vision - the Protestant work ethic; the “hard”
structuring of the church, perhaps the most
organized and hierarchical of all religions; strict
boundaries around such dualities as “good” and
“evil”, “virtue” and “sin”, especially within
the Catholic church but increasingly within
fundamentalist Protestantism, and the emphasis
on the outer, such as attendance at church,
and church and community activities, and
the repression and susp cion of inner
spiritual experience unmediated by a priest or
minister.
318 RUTH D. HINES

Cain (1990) cautions that more is at stake in of . women” as symbols and expressions of
redressing this imbalance than the social eleva- the true Feminine:
tion of women in the Christian church. In
advocating change through a balancing with- AS we contemplate these women disciples and
in the Masculine-dominated church with the leaders in the earliest Christian communities there
emerges a feminine pattern of great strength, of single-
Universal Feminine, she describes the Masculine
mindedness, of creativity, and most centrally of a full-
and Feminine as follows:
hearted love and compassion the [feminine] energy
as it is portrayed in scripture and in the lives of women
The masculine - the yang or active principle of human mystics is by no means weak, vacillating or subordinate
existence is strong, outgoing, achievement-centered (Cain, 1990, p. 34).
and goal-oriented. This life energy which inheres in
both men and women is the energy of sharp edges,
She sounds a caution, in relation to gender
straight lines and clear definition. Symbols such as the
phallus, the tower, the mountain, the sword and the
issues in the church, which will be echoed in
knife express something of its thrusting penetrating relation to issues of gender in society and
energy. It is an energy of “Logos”, the word expressing specifically in accounting practice and research,
the thought that penetrates the mind. Its awareness is throughout this paper:
discrete and it objectifies reality. In its most positive
form it may be expressed as spirit and creative energy;
in its negative form [i.e. unbalanced by the Feminine or A true feminism will be principally concerned with the
Yin qualities] it is overriding, tyrannical and without restoration of a true feminine rather than the destruc-
imagination or compassion. tion of the patriarchy, although some dying or destruc-
tion may be part of a total process, But the feminist, man
The feminine [or] the yin [is the] receptive or woman, who bases a way of being that sets out to
principle of life. The feminine energy takes the destroy the other rather than to Iind themselves, is most
opposite shape to the masculine and is the receiver, the likely unconsciously dominated by the very same
container, the nurturer. Her symbols are many - the negative masculine energy they are setting out to
night, the earth, the sea, the cave, the cup. She is “Eros” destroy. When this is happening it may be recognised by
that which relates; she is mysterious; she spins, weaves a certain drivenness and inability to hear an opinion
and dances. In her most positive form she is Wisdom, other than one’s own (Cain, 1990, p. 34).
Sophia, the feminine face of God, or the earth mother
who receives and nurtures life; in her negative form [i.e. Beneath the concrete layers of the organized
unbalanced by the Masculine or Yang qualities] she is
Christian church, in addition to the Biblical
seductive, devouring and possessive.
women who archetypically reflect the qualities
In the human person the earliest known and primarily of the Universal Feminine, lies a spiritual and
experienced mode is embodied as the physical forma- mystical tradition which, like the other great
tion of male or female. As life grows the task becomes
world philosophies, sees the world as consist-
the recognition, encounter and integration of the
ing of polar opposites: the is-not - death,
opposite both within the person and between persons
(Cain, 1990, p. 33). sickness, suffering, losing, refraining, silence -
is as essential to existence as the is:
In advocating a “true feminism” Cain (1990)
states that because the feminine has been To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven;
drastically repressed, one of the repercussions
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
is that many women “caught as they are in
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a patriarchal system which consistently de- A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break
values the feminine have never really dis- down, and a time to build up;
covered or learned to express the ‘true’ A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,
and a time to dance;
feminine that is their heritage” (p. 34). She
A time to cast away stones. and a time to gather stones
points back to a Christian heritage which
together;
includes “many examples that are undeniable A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
evidence of the leading and inspirational roles embracing;
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a
time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a
time of peace.
(Ecclesiastes iii, 1-B)
Fox ( 1983) has attempted to retrieve the
Universal Feminine of the Christian tradition,
long repressed (also Fox, 1989; Giles, 1989;
McNamara, 1977; McDonagh, 1990; Welch,
1982; Sanford, 1977, 1978, 1980a, b):
The Enlightenment - the en-light-en-ment - has ren-
dered all of us who live in Western civilization citizens
of the light. Questers after left-brain - which is ligbt-
oriented satisfaction. The invention of the light bulb
was a marvellous outgrowth of the Enlightenment’s
technological achievement. And __. there came also
radio, so that now not only were our eyes attracted to
what is outside of us but our ears were as weII. With
television we experienced a new kind of light machine
- one that combines eyes and ears, light and radio, to
lure us out of ourselves.. Religion too has become very
light-oriented in the West
What price as a people have we paid for all this light? We
have become afraid of the dark. Afraid of no light. Afraid
of silence A light-oriented spirituality is superficial,
surface-like, lacking as it does the deep, dark roots that
nourish (Fox, 1983, p. 134).
Fox (1983) draws on the Christian mystical
and creation-centred tradition which, as well as
the “light”, acknowledges and embraces the
reality of darkness, emptiness, pain and suffer-
ing as an essential aspect of the world and
human existence. Fox (1983, pp. 132-156)
describes the psychological and spiritual path
of the Christian Via Negativa: “such a journey
[does] . . not consist of manufacturing religious
experiences but of letting go and letting be, of
breathing deeply, of trusting the empty spaces
and the silences. Of sinking, therefore, and not
of climbing” (p. 139).
The central message of Christianity, portrayed
through the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, is that death precedes new life, and so a
denial of darkness, suffering and death is a
denial of life. This is the same insight as
contained in Taoist philosophy that as in nature,
319
there can be no summer without winter, so
without “dying to oneself” or “letting go”,
there can be no new life: no new attitudes or
perceptions, no new values or experiences, no
new insights or ways of being (see Levine,
1982, who draws on several traditions in
articulating this theme).
May (1987, p. 101) compares Thomas a
Kempis in his Imitation of Christ “‘Be
assured of this, that you must live a dying life’ . .
[and] John of the Cross ‘He that knows how to
die to all things will have life in all things”’ with
the Taoist view which says “‘to die but not to
perish is to be eternally present”‘. On a similar
note, he points out (May, 1987, p. 103) that the
Tibetan Book of the Dead is not just for the
dead, but for the living, in the understanding
that birth and death happen uninterruptedly in
each human life.
Willmott & Knights (1982) concerned with
the development of a critical theory of work
organization, elucidate a similar insight, relying
on Mahayana Buddhism:
A particular value of Mahayana Buddhism, Fromm
observes, is that it “does not contradict the rationality,
realism and independence which are modern man’s
precious achievements”.
Fromm shows how, instead of looking upon frustra-
tion and disappointment as a sign of a weak ego or as a
fated feature of the human condition, Mahayana Buddhism
regards this source of suffering as a sign of basic
intelligence and emancipatory potential. The experience
of disappointment exposes the incapacity of egoistic
filters and defences to manage or manipulate the
openness of human existence in ways that confirm their
effectiveness, From the standpoint of Mahayana Buddhism,
the psychological key to freedom lies in overcoming
irrational strivings by attaining a genuine recognition
and acceptance of the futility of pursuing an escapist,
egoistic form of control over our existence. In contrast
to Marx, who concentrates upon the social structural
sources of this distortion, its focus is upon men’s
egotistical preoccupation with controlling situations so
as to secure a solid self. Only by abolishing or “letting
go” of this preoccupation, it is argued, can we
experience the world without egoistic attachment
to our self-mediations (Willmott & Knights, 1982,
pp. 217-218).
Fox (1989, p. 63) quotes Bonhoeffer as stating
that “oeace
I is the onoosite
AI of securitv”.
d SecuritvI
320 RIJTH D. HINES
of possessions, the security of reasoned argu-
ments which depend upon subject-object
distinctions and duahsms but can be “proven”,
security of identity and the security of defini-
tions and clear-cut boundaries, which inevi-
tably create dualities, do not lead to peace, but
separation, alienation and existential anxiety.
Thus the need for the individual to “die
to” or “let go” of his or her attachment to
these in order to find peace. As Watts (1979,
p. 32) says, “when no risk is taken there is no
freedom”.
There is an increasing attraction of people in
the Masculine West to the philosophies and
psychologies of the East (Ferguson, 1980;
Wilber, 1985; Ajaya, 1983). The Eastern cul-
tures of China, India, Tibet and (previously)
Japan may be seen as reflecting and reproducing
the insights, values and conceptions associated
with the Universal Feminine - inner, receptive,
emptying, holist, intuitive and experiential.
“The most important characteristic of the
Eastern worldview . is the awareness of the
unity and mutual interrelation of all things and
events, the experience of all phenomena in the
world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All
things are seen as interdependent and insepar-
able parts of this cosmic whole” (Capra, 1983a,
p. 141). Associated with this Feminine orienta-
tion has been a lack of concern for the outer,
active, analytic and reasoning potential, with its
concern for material provision and progress.
However, Western Masculine values and per-
ceptions are now intluencing the Oriental East.
For people in the West, synthesis of Western
Masculine values and conceptions with those of
Eastern Feminine traditions may provide the
means for an “inner marriage”, and liberation
from the objectification of all life via the
deification of material progress and reason
(Wilber, 1985; Houston, 1987; Ajaya, 1983;
Watts, 1969, 1972, 1979).
Eastern philosophy has been gradually permeating all
walks of life in the West while everyone laments the
disappearance of the gentle East under increasing
technological and industrial demands. Undoubtedly,
there will be more freeways and polluting chimneys in
the East while most great masters of the Orient are
emigrating one by one to the mountains and growth
center retreats in the West (Watts, 1979, p. 127).
THE UNIVERSAL MASCULINE (YANG) AND
UNIVERSAL FEMININE (YIN) IN MODERN
PSYCHOLOGY
Modern psychology, incorporating the in-
sights and flowing on from the work of Carl
Jung, confirms the idea of the inner marriage of
polar opposites. The Feminine polarity within a
man, Jung called the Anima, and the Masculine
polarity within a woman, the Animus. This
unconscious potential for inner realization is
generally projected onto a partner and con-
sciously related to by the individual through
relating to that other person. Growth in
consciousness occurs by withdrawing these
projections back into one’s own consciousness,
and seeing the other person for themself, and
allowing them to be themself The usual way of
relating to these unconscious contents in the
modern West is through sexual partnership
and/or marriage because alternative psycho-
spiritual paths for realizing this union inwardly
are not available in the rationalist, materialist
culture (Jung, 1964, 1968; Progoff, 1981; Ajaya,
1983; Sanford, 1980a). Sanford (1980a, p. 112)
acknowledges that “to achieve this union of the
opposites within ourselves may very well be
the task of life, requiring the utmost in
perseverance and assiduous awareness”.
Sanford (1980a, p. 66) evocatively describes
the anima’s life-giving role:
Masculine consciousness has been likened to the sun,
and feminine consciousness to the moon. At noon
everything is seen in bright outline and one thing is
clearly differentiated from another. But no one can
stand too much of this hot, bright sun. Without the cool,
the moist, the dark, the landscape soon becomes
unbearable, and the earth dries up and will not produce
life. That is the way a man’s life becomes without the
fertilizing intluence on him of the feminine. Without a
relationship to his inner world, a man can focus, but
lacks imagination; he can pursue goals, but lacks
emotion; he can strive for power, but is unable to be
creative because he cannot produce new life out of
himself. Only the fruitful joining of the Yin principle to
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 321

the Yang principle can stir up his energies, can prevent integrated within a person. As Houston ( 1987,
his consciousness from becoming sterile, and his p. 101) puts it: “Myth is something that never
masculine power from drying up.
was but is always happening”. Western culture
impedes this growth process because it is one
Caution must be exercised in generalizations of the few cultures that demands a singular self:
about the attributes of the unconscious con-
tents at the level of gender, or man or woman, The genius of the child is to become what he beholds -
because the contents of consciousness, and dog, kitten, tree, bug, cloud. The child seeks understand-
what is denied, and repressed in the unconsci- ing by incarnating the world. So as a child you were
permitted to enjoy many and manifold selves. At a
ous, is highly culturally dependent. So, for
certain point they were declared unreal or inap-
example, one cannot equate womanness in
propriate, and your genius for identity was truncated. In
Western society with the Universal Feminine or some, this loss of psycho-ecology, of being permitted to
Yin. Many women have been conditioned to the have leaky margins with reality at large, can result years
Universal Masculine or Yang way of being. For later in pathology. Because the yearning of the manifold
self to complexlfy, is kept in a pressure cooker, it can
example, they prioritize reason and logic,
eventually explode and fracture. If we can only
accept hard hierarchies, and are motivated by
recognize and encourage the healthy development and
and/or concerned about, and/or work towards orchestration of our various selves, we wilI avoid much
material security. For such women, inner incipient neurosis and pathology (Houston, 1987,
growth requires, as for most men in the pp. 30-31).
Masculine West, the nurturing of their feeling
and intuitive potentials, simply being rather A number of authors show how myths, such
than always actively doing, embracing silence as that of Psyche and Eros (Houston, 1987;
and deepening in their interior, creating recep- Johnson, 1977a) and Parsifal and his search for
tivity rather than constant productivity, and the Grail (Johnson, 1977b) provide patterns for
experiencing rather than reasoning. Such a guiding the unfolding of the unconscious
direction does not involve an absolute denial of Masculine and Feminine aspects of a person
the Masculine or Yang, but a balancing and so that they may become fully conscious.
integration of it with the softness of the Harding (1976) and de Castillejo (1973) show
Feminine or Yin. A “dying to” or “letting go” of how myths such as that of Isis and Osiris
attachment to a way of being, creates the elaborate a Feminine psychology. The Animus
“space” for the creative amplification and and the Anima, or inner Masculine and inner
extension of being, and paradoxically, re- Feminine, have multiple aspects which myth
empowers (Ajaya, 1983; Johnson, 1977b, 1986; illuminates. For example, Zabriskie ( 1974, cited
Jung, 1968; Sanford, 1980a). by Sanford, 1980a, p. 110) describes how the
A principle function of myth that has been five major goddesses of the upperworld in
almost lost in Western society, with its duality Greek mythology - Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter,
between the soft symbol and the hard real and Hera and Artemis - provide a kind of “typology
its rejection of the validity of the former, is of the feminine”. Each goddess he suggests is
that of articulating the typical patterns and different, and each is “an image of a genuine,
sequences of life in the Cosmos, in society, and ancient, valid mode of the Feminine”. Such myths
in the individual psyche (Chetwynd, 1982, pp. provide archetypes of ways of being that are not
276-278; Cirlot, 1971, pp. xl-lv; Campbell, taught, acknowledged or encouraged in Western
1972; Houston, 1987; Sanford, 198Oa, b; Johnson, culture with its narrow norms of ‘wife and
1977b). mother” and/or ‘working woman” (see also
At the level of the psyche, a crucial role of Bolen, 1985).
myth is as an articulator and guide to the As mentioned previously, myth can be over-
patterns through which the archetypes of the particularized and over-intellectualized, in which
Masculine and Feminine are real-ized and case the “creative drive of the symbol . is
322 RUTH D. HINES

restricted, and it is made to bear labels which to do with logic and rational thought and with
are over-concrete, too materialized or inferior. such aspects of the personality as assertive-
Its metaphysical reality is arrested, and con- ness, aggressiveness and [if unbalanced by the
sequently a single plane of reality comes to be Feminine] authoritarianism - in the Chinese
mistaken for the sum of all possible levels of cosmology, the yang” (Dychtwald, 1986, p. 30).
symbolic meaning” (Cirlot, 1971, p. 1). Freud The right hemisphere “is considered to be
made this mistake. Seeing psychopathology related to the feminine aspects of the character.
against a background of the Oedipus myth, his Personality constructs such as emotional&y,
method reverted to positivism and became passivity, creative thought, holistic expression,
reductionistic. “Instead of leading events back and the yin, or receptive forces” (Dychtwald,
to . . myth . . Freud tried to base the myths 1986, p. 30) (see also Lawlor, 1990).
on the actual behaviour of actual biological Western civilization, which dominates the
families, ultimately reducing the mythical to the world today, has invested almost exclusively in
pathological” (Hillman, 1977, p. 100, quoted by left-lobe processes in education, politics, econ-
Ajaya, 1983, p. 84). This tendency of con- omics and religion (Lawlor, 1990; Ferguson,
cretization, reification and reductionism is itself 1980). Until this century, science was the leader
a product of the unbalanced Masculine orienta- in reflecting and reproducing the unbalanced
tion of the West, including the European Universal Masculine perspective. Modem
culture in which Freud was socialized. science was preceded and accompanied by a
Ricoeur (1964, p. 239) expresses the damag- development of philosophical thought which
ing effects resulting from the concretization led to an extreme formulation of a dualism
and reduction of myths, and the analytic between spirit and matter. In the seventeenth
separation of the world into non-interacting century Descartes articulated a philosophy
dualities such as that of good and evil: based on a fundamental division between two
separate and independent realms - that of
The harm that has been done to souls, during the mind (res cogitans) and that of matter (res
centuries of Christianity, just by the literal interpreta- extensa). This Cartesian division allowed
tion of the story of Adam, and then by the confusion of
scientists to treat matter as “dead” and com-
this myth, treated as history, with later speculations,
principally Augustinian, about original sin, will never be pletely separate from themselves, and to see the
adequately told (quoted by Fox, 1983, p. 51). material world as like a huge machine consist-
ing of a multitude of different and independent
objects. Newton articulated the mechanistic
THE UNIVERSAL MASCULINE (YANG) AND worldview and it became the basis of classical
UNIVERSAL FEMININE (YIN) IN SCIENCE physics, which because of its empirical success
and because it legitimated and reproduced the
Modern science and psychology has dis- unbalanced Masculine worldview, came to be
covered that the human brain is divided into considered a model for all the disciplines. From
left and right hemispheres providing a physio- this viewpoint, the world was a mass of
logical correspondence with the age-old no- “objects” external to the observer, linear,
tions of the Universal Masculine and Feminine. divisible, logical and it could be penetrated and
The left cerebral hemisphere controls most of subjugated by reason (Rorty, 1980, 1983;
the body’s right side motor and neuromuscular Prigogine & Stengers, 1985; Capra, 1983a, b).
functions, and the right cerebral hemisphere The age-old intuition that Mother Nature is
controls the left side of the body. The left the archetypal embodiment of the Universal
hemisphere “is predominantly involved with Feminine, in that she is the giver and nurturer
analytic, logical thinking, especially in verbal of life (see Cirlot, 1971; Chetwynd, 1982) was
and mathematical functions” (Ornstein, 1973, known, but the reductionism and aggressive-
p. 52). This is the “‘masculine’ side . having ness of the unbalanced Masculine orientation
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 323

reduced this intuition to the hard physicality created largely relied upon the controlling of
and materiality of gender: Nature was a female the senses and feelings/passions by commerce.
body, to be penetrated, with reason and Foucault ( 1971) describes the birth of the
scientific instruments, subdued, and used as a category “madness” or “un-reason” and its use
resource, as the following quote of Francis to categorize and discipline, all those who
Bacon written in 1623 to James I indicates: refused or were unable to repress all but their
reason.
For you have but to follow and as it were hound nahtre This aggressiveness of reason, unbalanced by
in her wanderings, and you will be able when you like to love for nature, or intuitions about the inter-
lead and drive her afterward to the same place again
connectedness of nature, has resulted now in
Neither ought a man to make scruple of entering and
catastrophic destruction of nature:
penetrating into these holes and corners, when the
inquisition of truth is his whole object - as your
Majesty has shown in your own example (Bacon, 1870, Ozone depletion, carbon dioxide buildup, chlorofluro-
quoted by Merchant, 1983, p. 168). carbon emissions, and acid rain upset the respiration
and clog the pores and lungs of the ancient Earth Mother
Toxic wastes, pesticides, and herbicides seep into
Merchant (1983, pp. 166190) shows the
ground water, marshes, bays, and oceans, polluting Gaia’s
influence of the witch trials which were taking circulatory system. Tropical rainforests and northern
place all over Europe in the early seventeenth old-growth forests disappear at alarming rates as lum-
century, on Bacon’s imagery, philosophy and berers shear Gaia of her tresses (Merchant, 1983, p. xv).
language. Bacon frequently describes matter or
nature as a “common harlot” whose passions Capra (1983a, pp. 28-29) describes the
are to be feared and thus should be disciplined extreme and alienating influence of Descartes’
and exorcized: “matter is not devoid of an philosophy. Descartes’ famous pronouncement
appetite and inclination to dissolve the world “Cogito ergo sum” - I think, therefore I exist
and fall back into the old Chaos” (Bacon, 1870, - has led Westerners to equate their identity
p. 320, quoted by Merchant, 1983, p. 171). with their mind, instead of their whole organism
In the Masculine Birth of Time, Bacon and senses and non-reasoning potentials such as
(quoted by Merchant, 1983, p. 169) explains feelings/passions and intuitive, holistic ways of
how the new man of science must not think knowing. Identified thus with their mind only
that the “inquisition of nature is in any part or primarily, most individuals are aware of
interdicted or forbidden”. Nature must be themselves as isolated egos existing “inside”
“bound into service” and made “slave”, put “in their bodies, independently and separately from
constraint” and “molded’ by the mechanical other people and the world:
arts. The “searchers and spies of nature” are to
The mind has been separated from the body and given
discover her plots, secrets and crevices.
the futile task of controlling it, thus causing an apparent
Iawlor (1990, p. 75) estimates that the
con&t between the conscious will and the involuntary
European witch trials, lasting for a four hundred instincts. Each individual has been split up further into a
year period and coming to an end in the large number of separate compartments, according to
eighteenth century, saw over four million his or her actvities, talents, feelings, beliefs, etc. which
are engaged in endless conflicts generating continuous
women in Europe tortured and put to death for
metaphysical confusion and frustration.
witchcraft. He suggests that these hunts “began
within the psyche of the male” (p. 75) due to This inner fragmentation mirrors our view of the
the emphasis on the Masculine realm of the world “outside” which is seen as a multitude of separate
intellect and reason, and the denial, repression objects and events. The natural environment is treated
as if it consisted of separate parts to be exploited by
and consequent fear of the sensuality and
different interest groups. The fragmented view is further
passions of the Feminine. Hirschman (1977)
extended to society which is split into different nations,
elaborates how the arguments for Capitalism races, religious and political groups (Capra, 1983a.
and the legitimacy for Capitalism that they p. 29).
324 RUTH D. HINES

This century, however, in the face of increas- which can be adequately modelled by linear
ing contradictions and anomalies within the differential equations (Merchant, 1983).
Masculine or Yang scientific view, science Capra (1983b, pp. 285-332) describes the
has moved in the direction of the Universal emergent systems view of life, a “new vision of
Feminine or Yin and a holistic worldview reality” which is growing out of biology,
similar to the Eastern, Jewish and Christian physics and chemistry, and which is reflecting
mystical traditions (Capra, 1983a; Merchant, and increasing an awareness of the essential
1983, pp. xvi-xviii; Prigogine & Stengers, interrelatedness and interdependence of all
1985, pp. 292-293; Houston, 1987, pp. 15-19; phenomena - physical, spiritual, biological,
Ferguson, 1980; Fox, 1983, 1989). The explora- psychological, social and cultural. This holistic
tion of the subatomic world has revealed a view transcends current disciplinary and con-
“reality” which repeatedly transcends language ceptual boundaries and is being shaped by
and reasoning, and the unification of concepts many individuals, communities and networks
which had hitherto seemed opposites and ir- that are developing new ways of thinking and
reconcilable, typifies these explorations. Exam- organizing themselves according to new prin-
ples of the unification of dualities in modern ciples (see also Ferguson, 1980; Prigogine &
subatomic physics include that particles are Stengers, 1985).
now seen as both destructible and indestructible,
matter as both continuous and discontinuous, It is fascinating to see that twentieth century science,
which originated in the Carfesian split and in the
and force and matter as both different aspects of
mechanistic worldview, now overcomes this fragmenta-
the same phenomenon. Space and time are two
tion and leads back to the idea of unity expressed in the
concepts which had seemed entirely different early Greek and Eastern philosophies (Capra, 1983a,
but have been unified in relativistic physics. p. 28).
Particles such as electrons have been found to
behave like waves, while waves such as light The various schools of Eastern, Hebrew and
waves behave like particles, depending on Christian mysticism differ, but they all embrace
the interdependent observer and experimental the basic unity of the universe, which is the
context. Context dependence, the relatedness central feature of their teachings. The highest
of the observer to the observed, which is aim is to become aware of the unity and mutual
antithetical to mechanism and is part of the interrelation of all things, to transcend the
Feminine holistic world view, is a fundamental notion of an isolated individual self and to
characteristic of matter (Capra 1983a). The identify with the ultimate reality and see that
new thermodynamics of Prigogine (Prigogine “one is all, and all is one” (Ajaya, 1983; Capra,
& Stengers, 1985) has replaced the closed and 1983a; May, 1987; May, 1988; Wilber, 1985). In
isolated systems (such as steam engines) view this “enlightened” consciousness, the cosmos is
of classical physics with a thermodynamic seen as “one inseparable reality - for ever in
view in which higher levels of organization motion, alive, organic; spiritual and material at
can spontaneously emerge out of disorder, a the same time” (Capra, 1983a, p. 29). Houston
view inconsistent with the mechanistic non- (1987, p. 17), like Bateson ( 1979), Capra
interactive and linear view of change. (1983a, b) and Ferguson (1980), suggests that
The recent emergence of chaos theory in “with the premises of higher physics being
mathematics suggests that deterministic linear, consonant with the knowledge of deeper
predictive equations, which form the basis of mysticism, a new rapprochment is occurring
mechanism, may apply to unusual rather than between science and the sacred”. She suggests
usual situations. Most environmental and bio- (p. 17) that Eros or the Universal Feminine is
logical systems, and ecological patterns, are re-emerging to balance the Universal Masculine
coming to be seen as governed by complex or Logos, “at a time when the breakdown of the
nonlinear relationshins rather than oatterns old storv leaves us desnerate for love. for
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 325

security, for protection, for meaning. It leaves dominant values and conceptions, for both men
us yearning for a nurturing and cultivation of and women, are: minding the quality of life and
our whole being, that we might be adequate the preservation of the environment; helping
stewards of the planetary culture”. others, in particular the weak and unfortunate;
“small and slow” are beautiful; putting relation-
ships with people before money and things; the
THE UNIVERSAL FEMININE (YIN) AND valuing of intuition over reason and decisive
UNIVERSAL MASCULINE (YANG) IN argument; an interdependence rather than
RELATION TO CULTURE independence ideal; men need not be assertive
but can also take caring roles; sex roles in
Subsequently in this paper, it will be shown society should be fluid, and differences in sex
that alternative research in accounting to roles should not mean differences in power
mainstream research may be seen as a part of (Hofstede, 1984, p. 205, 1983, p. 85). Accord-
the re-emergence of the Universal Feminine or ing to this classification, “Masculine” countries
Eros; however, this section will briefly sum- include the entire cluster of Anglo countries and
marize some literature which has utilized German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria
the concept of the Universal Feminine and and Switzerland, and “Feminine” countries
Masculine in relation to culture. include Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and
Reference has already been made to Choud- the Netherlands (Hofstede, 1984, 1983).
hury ( 1988) and his investigation of the Yin “is- Hofstede ( 1984, p. 209) suggests that in
not”, or absence, of accounting, in contrast to more Masculine countries, women’s liberation
the usual emphasis on the Yang “is”, or movements tend to be more aggressive and the
presence, of accounting. Probably the most ideal of women’s liberation is that women can
commonly used operational model of culture be as assertive as men, “women try to beat men
used in accounting research is that of Hofstede at their game”, whereas in more Feminine
( 1983, 1984). (See, for example, Soeters & countries, women’s liberation movements tend
Schreuder, 1988.) Hofstede (1984) classifies to defend the reform of the entire society along
cultures as Masculine or Feminine depend- the “Feminine” lines.
ing upon their value orientation. “Masculine” Although Japanese culture has been highly
cultures are those which have maximum sex inIluenced by Mahayana and Zen Buddhism and
role division; have a materialist “money and Taoist philosophy, many aspects of Japanese
things” orientation; value performance and society and culture today reflect an embracing
growth over quality of life and environment; of the Western highly Masculine or Yang value
live to work rather than work to live; have an orientation. Hofstede (1983, 1984) categorizes
achievement rather than service or caring ideal; Japan as the most Masculine country in his
strive for performance and achieving something study, and refers to Japan’s enormous pollution
visible, and showing off; have an independence levels (1984, p. 209). However, whilst post-
rather than an interdependence ideal; empha- war economic reconstruction and adoption
size decisiveness and not intuition; see “big and of Western aggressive industrialization and
fast” as beautiful rather than “small and slow” as materialism means that Japan now has a strong
beautiful, and have a machismo (“ostentative Masculine or Yang orientation, many Eastern
manliness”) ideal and an ideal that men should Feminine or Yin aspects of Japanese society are
dominate in all settings (Hofstede, 1984, p. 205, also evident. For example, whilst Hofstede
1983, p. 85). “In Masculine societies, the (1984, p. 209) suggests a direct relationship
traditional masculine social values permeate between the strength of the Masculinity norm
the whole society - even the way of thinking and the tendency to resolve industrial relations
of the women” (Hofstede, 1983, p. 85). by open conflict, comparing British strikes with
In the more “Feminine” societies, the Swedish dialogue, McKinnon ( 1986, pp. 90-91)
326 RUTH D. HINES

points out that the Japanese seek to preserve linguistic curiosity reflects . . a tendency of
harmony in their interpersonal decision-making the culture to acknowledge the ambivalence
processes through an emphasis on participa- experienced when mastery of situations is im-
tion, consultation and genuine reconciliation perfect. Faced with difficult trade-offs, Japanese
through an avoidance of direct confrontation. ‘choose’ one over the other; Westerners like to
McKinnon ( 1986, p. 91) quotes Reischauer think they decide” (Pascale, 1978, p. 155).
(1977, p. 226) as stating that in their pursuit of Thus Japan reflects much of the IJniversal
harmony, the Japanese lean “more towards Feminine or Yin, as well as the materialistic
subtlety and sensitivity than to clarity of productivity of the Universal Masculine. Indeed
analysis, to intuition rather than to reason, to Japanese materialist “success” is largely attribut-
pragmatism rather than theory, and to organiza- able to its harnessing of the Yin human
tional skills rather than great intellectual con- potential, in its embracing and rapid achieving
cepts . . they have never set great store by of Western goals (see, for example, Hariman,
clarity of verbal analysis and originality of 1990). But, the “hard” Masculine quickly
thought”. She points out that this emphasis on destroys the “soft” Feminine, as is seen in
harmony in interpersonal relationships stems the decimation of “primitive” (the Western
from the idea of the “yang and yin; that is, from pejorative word for “soft” Feminine societies)
the idea of complementary forces (lightness cultures and economies, when penetrated by,
and darkness) which alternate with and balance or embracing, a Masculine cultural orientation.
each other . . [which] allows no strict ‘good- Thus a rapid adoption of Yang values, as in the
bad’ dichotomy” (McKinnon, 1986, p. 90) (see case of Japan, is unlikely to result in a balancing
also McKinnon & Harrison, 1985; Hariman, and integration of the old Yin values, but rather
1990). their decimation.
Pascale (1978, p. 155) points out that the Whilst Hofstede (1983, 1984) categorizes
Japanese do not have a word for “empty” but the four Nordic countries and the Netherlands
say a space is “full of nothing”, reflecting their as the most Feminine cultures, this should be
acceptance of the reality and essentiality of seen as relative to the sample of 50 countries in
the is-not or nothingness. He explains how his study. The study did not include extremely
Japanese executives operate within the “empty” Feminine cultures such as, for example, those
space of business problems, allowing ambiguity of Australian Aborigines, American Indians,
asa “shroud of the unknown” surrounding Malaysian Senoi and some African cultures.
certain events, and compares this to American Within these cultures, there is no duality
business practices which focus on objects and experienced between mind and body, or matter
objectives. For example, if merging two depart- and spirit. The individual experiences themself
ments appears desirable, American executives as at one with the land, which is seen as an
“make an announcement” thus naming and ob- incarnation of spirit; time is cyclic and circular,
jectifying the new situation. However, Japanese turning and returning, as the alternation of
executives quietly shift into the “negative night and day, winter and summer, death and
spaces” of the situation, informally merging birth; unity and permanence is perceived in
procedures, increasing the flow of information change; Eros - relating, nurturing and caring
across the boundaries, leaving the situation - for the intertwined person, spirit, landscape,
ambiguous until the employees involved become is the focus of society; and logic, reason, linear
accustomed to the new composition. Only after progress, history, and material productivity and
they have grown used to the change is the efficiency play little role; reality is reflected and
situation formally recognized and announced in reproduced in symbols, myths and rituals,
the Masculine or Yang sense (Pascale, 1978). orally conveyed rather than objectified and
Additionally, the Japanese do not have a term concretized in written records, and most know-
for decision-making in the Western sense: “this ing that the individual needs, arises intuitively
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 327

through myth, ritual, oral teaching, contempla- TABLE 1. Symbols, qualities and attributes of the Universal
tion and dreaming (Castaneda, 1970, 1971a, b, Masculine (Yam?) and Universal Feminine (Yin)

1974, 1976, 1982; Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, Universal Masculine (Yang) Universal Feminine (Yin)
1973; Garfield, 1976; Faraday, 1974, pp. 3-7; tight Dark
Jung, 1964, 1983). Sun Moon
Figure 1 illustrates the usual way in which Air Earth
Day Night
Yin and Yang are depicted:
Mountain Cave
Desert Sea
A Chinese symbol of the dual distribution of forces, Consciousness Unconsciousness
comprising the active or masculine principle (Yang) Sword Chalice
and the passive or feminine principle (Yin). It takes the Phallus Vagina
form of a circle bisected by a sigmoid line, and the two Full Empty
parts so formed are invested with a dynamic tendency Exterior Interior
which would be wanting if the division were by a Dry Moist
diameter. The light half represents the Yang force Hard soft
and the dark half denotes Yin; however, each half straight Curved
includes an arc cut out of the middle of the opposing Explicit Tacit
half [and a circle including the polar “opposite”] Focused Dilfuse
to symbolize that every mode must contain within it Productive Receptive
the germ of its antithesis ._ The Yang-Yin is a Action Stillness, silence
helicoidal symbol, that is, it is a section of the Creative action Contemplation, meditation
universal whirlwind which brings opposites together Doing Being
and engenders perpetual motion, metamorphosis and Reason, argument Experience
continuity in situations characterized by contradiction Logic Intuition
The vertical axis through the centre of the Yang-Yin Leftbrain Right brain
constitutes the “unvarying mean” or, in other words, Logos, ideating Eros, relating
the mystic “Centre” where there is no rotation, no Impersonal, objective Personal, feeling
restlessness, no impulse, nor any suffering of any kind. It Analytic Gestalt
corresponds to the central zone of the Wheel of Dualistic Holistic
Transformations in Hindu symbolism, and the centre or Quantitative Qualitative
the way out of the labyrinth in Egyptian and western Linear Nonlinear
symbolism. It is also expressive of the two counter- Linear time, history Circular time, timelessness
balancing tendencies of evolution and involution Sequential Simultaneous
(Circlet, 1971, p. 380). Cause-effect Synchronicity
Progress, perfection Integration
Standardization Proliferation
Material provision Nurturing
Providing Caring

Source: Cain, 1990; Capra, 1983a; Chetwynd, 1982; Cirlot,

1971; Johnson, 1977a, b; Jung, 1964, 1968; lawlor, 1990;
Omstein, 1973; Watts, 1979.

ACCOUNTING: FILLING THE NEGATIVE

Fig. 1. The symbol of Yin-Yang.
Table 1 summarizes the most common
symbols and attributes of the Universal Mas-
culine or Yang, and Universal Feminine or
Yin.
SPACE
In art, the spaces around objects are called
“negative spaces” (Edwards, 1979, 1988). A
drawing, painting or sculpture will not resonate
beauty, truth or integrity, or work as a unified
whole, unless the objects are balanced with
negative spaces. In poetry, literature and music,
328 RUTH D. HINES

negative spaces - pauses, punctuations, rests, Measurements can be made of their “size” (e.g.
breaths and silences - balance the composi- gross assets, net assets, turnover), “stability”
tion and are an integral part of the creation. In (e.g. debt to equity number), “health” (e.g.
nature, day is balanced by night, summer by capital plus net profit), “growth” (e.g. net profit,
winter, and birth by death. The negative space or the extent to which capital is “bigger” at the
is the Feminine, the is-not, the contemplative end of one period than it was at the beginning,
silence in which intuitive knowledge and after adjustments for capital injections and
subjective felt knowing arise from within; the withdrawals) and their “yield’ (e.g. dividends to
dark, moist earth in which life spontaneously profit, or net assets). “Real things and events
germinates and is nurtured. that affect a dynamic and complex business
In the unbalanced Masculine culture, the enterprise are represented in the financial
very term “negative” is a perjorative term, statements by words and numbers, which are
because of the repression and consequent . . symbols of the real thing” (FASB, 1984, par.
unconscious fear (Lawlor, 1990) surrounding 2 1). The financial statements are like a “model”,
the realm of the Universal Feminine and all that which is “no more than a representation of
is born from the Feminine is-not. In our certain aspects of the real world’ (FASB, 198Oa,
unbalanced Masculine society which, having par. 76 and footnote 10) (see Hines, 1988,
penetrated and decimated softer Feminine 1991).
cultures, is now almost planetary-wide, there Accounting reports are a “full” picture of an
is no word which is not a pejorative term, for entity’s hard reality: “freedom from bias, both in
the Feminine: “empty”, “passive”, “receptive”, the measurer and the measurement method,
“non-doing”, “still”, “silent”, “soft”, are all implies that nothing material is left out” (FASB,
“negatives”, in the unbalanced Masculine sense. 1980a, par. 79). The only problems which arise
For this reason, the artistic term “negative in quantitatively measuring these concrete
space” is used here, for the Feminine or Yin entities are the problems which attach to any
space, which barely arises, because of the measurement task, for example, error, distor-
Iilling of all space with the incessant speaking tion, approximation, losing things, differences
of the language of accounting, and the con- of opinion and lack of experience (FASB, 198Oa,
sequences of its idolization. The present world b). The job of the accountant is to work out
order, and the lived experience of most people whether “elements” (FASB, 198Ob) of a business
in it, ‘is substantially influenced by the con- enterprise have become realized, and if they
cepts and consequences of accounting: manage- have, to “recognize” that and then measure them.
ment accounting, financial accounting, national The numbers so derived can be added and
and government accounting, and international subtracted, as in the Income Statement and
accounting. The language of accounting is the Balance Sheet; in fact this is necessary in order
arch-communicator and social constructor of to calculate whether the entity is “bigger” or
unbalanced Yang consciousness, society and “smaller” than it was previously and by how
environment. As this section will elucidate, it is much. “Financial Statements involve adding,
hard, dry, impersonal, objective, explicit, outer- subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers
focused, action-oriented, analytic, dualistic, depicting economic things and events” (FASB,
quantitative, linear, rationalist, reductionist and 1978, par. 18).
materialist. The same principles can be applied in
From the viewpoint of accounting practice working out how big or small a “government”
there is a “hard” world “out there”. There is is, for example, by adding and subtracting all its
an “economy” in society, and in that “economy” “in” comings and “out” goings to calculate, say,
there are discrete and bounded “entities” which a Gross Surplus or Deficit. A “nation” can be
are quantifiable, inasmuch as accounting prac- measured the same way, through a number Iike
tices can “measure” them, in hard numbers. Gross National Product. Since this hard reality
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 329

is divisible, and independent “parts” of it can be can be differentiated from object: the account-
recognized, they can be separately measured, ing measurer must inject no subjectivity into
such as different “sectors” in the “economy”, their accounting measures - they must not
different “departments” in the “government” or confuse their existence, thoughts or expecta-
different “divisions” in an “entity”. tions, with the entity they are measuring,
This involves no subjectivity. The whole because entities exist concretely and inde-
process is seemingly objective, because the pendently of both those who measure them and
objects exist externally to the person measuring their measurement concepts, instruments and
them: “accrual accounting provides measures practices. This means that accounting informa-
. rather than evaluations” (FASB, 1978, p. 48). tion can “provide evenhanded, neutral . .
The accountant simply has to focus on the unbiased information” (FASB, 1978, par. 33).
realized objects, which are “owned” by the Not only are employees, creditors, the environ-
entity, and which can be financially quantified, ment and the “rest” of “society” seen to be
being alert not to become distracted by other different from, and “outside” the boundary of
things which are around but “outside” them. the entity, but also the owners are seen to be
Externalities, such as pollution, chemical poison- separate from the entity. This enables the
ing, consumption of non-renewable objects, pri- accountant to separate the private affairs of the
mary products dumping in a world of starva- owner and those of the business. For example,
tion, exporting of profitable but toxic products payments by the owner from an entity’s bank
to unregulated Third World countries, threats account for personal items such as living
to world peace, or any forms of suffering expenses or entertainment are recognized as a
inflicted on people through the quest for profit, personal withdrawal and not an expense. It is
are not considered in accounting, because the “viewpoint” of the entity, rather than any
these are subjective, “soft” and unmeasurable, people associated with the entity, that is
and they are essentially separate from the “entity” adopted for accounting purposes.
and, therefore, can be clearly distinguished A distinction can even be made between
from the entity itself. Shareholders, creditors concepts and practices. In relation to the
and directors need not feel any responsibility recognition and measurement problems sur-
for these factors, because the beauty of net rounding “goodwill”, the FASB (1980a, par. 6s
profit and other financial statement items is 64) explains that if a financial statement reader
that they exclude feelings, and are confined to is familiar with accounting practice, then they
hard measures. These measures can be inde- will understand the concept of “goodwill”, and
pendently verified, using accounting concepts if not, then they probably will not be able to
and reason, thus further verifying that nothing make sense of the concept.
important is missing from them. Furthermore, The ultimate machismo power for those who
financial statements include only items which adopt the accounting ‘way of seeing” is conferral
have a market value in the present, or at least of the ability to see and create ultimate
have had such a value which has been paid or distinctions. The Excalibur of accounting know-
committed to be paid by the entity, in the linear ledge empowers its bearer to cut the Real ti-om
past, and is likely to be “real-ized” in the the False: “the moral is that in seeking com-
“future”. Thus the objectivity and fairness of parability accountants must not disguise real
accounting is ensured, because markets are differences nor create false differences” (FASB,
objective and impersonal. 1980a, par. 119).
The world, through the penetrating gaze Thus accounting practices aid and reflect the
of the accounting eye, and the razor-sharp “activity” of organizations. Accounting communi-
sword of accounting reason, can be cut up, cates how “productive” and “efficient” an entity
into dualities. Inner and subjective can be has been during a period. The ideal is to maximize
distinguished from outer and objective. Subject economic activity, productivity and efficiency,
330 RUTH D. HINFS
as measured by market values. Here, “produc-
tivity” refers only to production of the material
- hard cash - not the production of psychic,
emotional or any form of inner subjective, soft,
wealth. “An asset . embodies a probable future
benefit that involves a capacity, singly or in
combination with other assets, to contribute
directly or indirectly to future net cash inflows”
(FASB, i980b, par. 20).
The “time” which accounting creates and tills
is linear and divisible. Time is cut up into
accounting “periods’, and standardization of
accounting practice is important so that there
can be meaningful comparisons of the “sizes”,
“growth”, “yields” and so on, of different
entities, for the “same period’.
Time consists of “past”, “present” and “future”,
which exist side by side in a “line”, which runs
from the “past”, through the “present”, and into
the “future”. Even though the “past” is a memory,
and the “future” an expectation, that is, they are
both inner, soft and subjective, this seems not
to be the case, because most people including
accountants and accounting information users,
have this same experience of “time”. Being
interpersonally comparable, this conception of
“time” is taken to be a concrete reality “out
there”.
Since the “future” exists, it is necessary to
make an assumption about whether an entity will
continue “into” it, or not. A fundamenta.l assump-
tion of accounting is the “continuity” assumption.
This assumption usually enables the accountant
to measure the entity on the basis that what it
paid or committed to pay in the “past”, for
“elements” which can be turned into cash or
used to create “growth” in the “future”, can be
recognized and measured in the financial state-
ments. Linear divisible time enables the
“elements” of the entity to be cut up and
“matched” with separate bits of time over the
length of the line of time, for example, in depre-
ciation, amortization and overhead allocations.
Linear, divisible time is crucial to accounting
practice, because without this kind of time,
there could be no “progress”. Entities could be
seen to simply exist, in an ever-present “now”,
or they could be seen as existing and ceasing to
exist, in circular or cyclical time. This would
mean there could be no “progress”. But the
accountant sees an entity as having a “past”
“history”, and continuing “into” a “future”; thus
the entity can “progress”. Linear time is essential
for “progress”, because the accounting concept
of “growth’ (profit) and “contraction” (loss)
involves comparing the “size” of the entity in
the “present” with its “size” in the “past”.
Linear time also enables “forecasts” of “future”
possibilities for the entity. Forecasts are imag-
inary, and hence are inner, soft and subjective,
but the quantification of expectations penetrates
this softness, and concretizes or object-ifies
them, enabling them to be treated as “hard” and
“out there”. So, for example, “future” “perform-
ance” of the entity can be imagined, and then
when quantified it can be taken seriously as
“real”. This process is an important one for
“progress” and for the control and disciplining
of people, without which, “progress” is unlikely
to take place. For example, “within” the entity,
through the process of budgeting, this objectitica-
tion of imagination highly motivates people,
because if, when the “future” actually happens,
there turns out to be a difference between
the imagined “growth” and the “real”, then the
cause of this is identified, and the people
responsible for “causing” it can be punished, or
rewarded.
This same objectification of imagination
“causes” many and various “effects” on people,
entities, governments and nations. Crucial
decisions around the world are made on the
basis of “expected” accounting information, as
well as, of course, “actual” or “real” accounting
information.
Finally, accounting practice is objective and
impersonal in the dividing up and distributing
of parts or all of entities. Payments and
distributions of entities are made on the basis of
enforceable, legal claims. The “economy”, which
consists of economic entities, does not survive
and “grow”, in accounting terms, by nurturing
and caring for people, animals and the environ-
ment, and so it would not be “rational” or
“reason-able” to make distributions based on
needs.
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 331

MAINSTREAM ACCOUNTING RESEARCH: the accounting profession and capital markets,

COMPLETELY FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE
AND CONCRETING IT
Mainstream financial and management
accounting research investigates the hard “what
is” that is “out there”. The “economy” exists
within society but is separate from the social
and ecological fabric, and hence accounting
researchers can adopt a hard focus on economic
phenomena in isolation from the “surrounding”
society and environment. The “hardness” of
reality enables the slicing of it into “variables”
which, when proper methodological “controls”
are implemented, cut out the surrounding
complexity of reality.
The identification of “variables” that are “inde-
pendent” and drive variables that are “depend-
ent”, enables conclusions of “cause” and “effect”
and ascertainment of “universal laws”. Thus
reality is external to the observer, hard and
material, reducible to numbers, and works in a
linear, non-interactive way, rather than in a
bidirectional and interactive way. Therefore,
essentially the only language necessary to describe
this reality is mathematics, especially statistics
and econometrics (Chua, 1986a, Hines, 1989b;
Neimark & Tinker, 1986; Tinker, 1988).
From the mainstream accounting research
perspective, “time” is linear, but “future” time
is much “harder” than from the everyday
commonsense perspective. This combines with
“perfect knowledge” of reality, leaving absolutely
no negative spaces. For example, there is a
“perfect market” for managers. It is all-seeing
and all-knowing. It penetrates everything, even
the “future”. Thus managers’ utility functions
may be discerned (even though they are inner
and subjective) and full marginal adjustment is
made by all parties.2
Since reality, such as managers, organizations,
is objective, fully knowable and fully knowing,
and exhibits constant relationships, the “future”
can be predicted, enabling control and man-
ipulation of people, organizations and the
“economy”. An objective of mainstream research
is to provide this objective and impersonal
knowledge, as an aid to others, such as business
entities, accounting standard setting boards, the
accounting profession, governments and so on,
for technically controlling the present and the
future (Chua, 1986a; Hines, 1989a; Neimark &
Tinker, 1986; Tinker, 1988).
From the mainstream perspective economic
reality is seen to be stable and orderly, and
“natural’ in that it “just happens”. What happens,
is not seen as the product of power relations,
and contlict is seen as an un-natural or “dysfunc-
tional” state of affairs, which accounting know-
ledge can help to address and eliminate. Capital
markets, for example, are seen as natural,
inevitable and completely impersonal. The
impersonal “forces” which markets contain,
represent an ideal to mainstream researchers, of
“efficient” financial functioning, objectivity and
impartiality, and much mainstream research is
oriented to defending this view and providing
support for those whose material and ideo-
logical interests coincide with non-regulation
of markets.
Empty spaces that occur in the observational
domain, such as the collapse of corporations,
are not noticed in mainstream research, because
the focus is on aggregates, to enable generaliza-
tion. Aggregation requires the maintenance of
distance from what is being observed, and the
reduction of reality to numbers. Actual involve-
ment, such as participant observation, blurs the
sharp focus with a haze of complexity and
mystery. Thus complete separation from the
phenomenon being studied is seen as the ideal

a “An individual (whether a shareholder, non-managing director or politician) will adjust a iirm’s accounting numbers for a
change in accounting standards up to the point that the marginal cost of making the adjustment equals the marginal
benefits” (Watts & Zimmerman, 1978, p. 116). “Bondholders and shareholders anticipate the manager’s behavior and
appropriately discount the price of the bonds or shares at the time of issue” (Watts & Zimmerman, 1979, p. 276). “If these
directors do not adjust the plans, management compensation rises and share price falls by the fuU discounted present value
of the additional compensation” (Watts & Zimmerman, 1978, p. 116).
332 RUTH D. HINES

method of learning about it, to enable total accounting research. Researchers have not
objectivity and aggregation of enough data to changed their approach. Referees and editors of
draw out generalizable inferences. journals have not asked researchers to alter
From “outside” the mainstream perspective, their methodology” (Watts & Zimmerman,
it can be seen that the human suffering involved 1990, p. 149).
in corporate collapses is largely a result of non- Mainstream researchers see and maintain
disclosure of information to capital markets. As very clear boundaries around themselves, as
corporations erode capital through undisclosed separate objective observers, and around the
losses, they issue further debt and capital, objects of their study. From the heights of the
which when lost by people and entities is a mainstream research look-out, one does not see
source of suffering. However, this is of no the empty spaces that have been left in the
concern to mainstream accounting researchers concrete reality of people, species, cultures,
for a number of reasons. Firstly, they see and the Earth, by the operation of capital
“competing sources of information” to account- markets. If a closer look is taken, and the empty
ing information coming into the market. (But space observed, it can be filled, with a rational-
because there is no study of the inner, soft, ist logic which argues that the slaying of these
unmeasurable processes of social agents, it is unlit, inefficient aspects of reality proves how
not seen that there is an asymmetry in the efficient and impersonal markets are, and how
information being made publicly available to they strengthen reality by eliminating the
capital markets: people do not like to disclose “failures”.
“bad” information, due to the adverse con- In the mainstream worldview, people are not
sequences of doing so which constitute a sentient constructors and changers of the social
positive disincentive to disclosing “bad” infor- reality which surrounds them, but rather passive
mation, in the absence of regulation to do so.) objects observed by the researcher, entities
Additionally, the all-seeing, all-knowing “perfect” that possess certain “characteristics” such as
market for managers would know if a corporate certain leadership and budgetary styles, or they
manager seriously shirked telling the truth, and may be characterized as being information-
discount the value of him, and his corporation. processing mechanisms (Chua, 1986a, pp. 606,
But, more importantly, issues concerning cor- 611).
porate collapses do not concern mainstream Mainstream management and financial
accounting researchers because it is “soft” and accounting research sees people as essentially
would draw them into feeling for victims of cor- the same and standardized, that is, as goal-
porate collapses, and empathetically experienc- setters who “maximize utility” relying on their
ing their suffering and loss, and thus losing their reason. They are materialistic, opportunistic
objectivity. Furthermore, the Social Darwinism and greedy and act unreservedly in their own
that underlies mainstream research - survival narrowly defined self-interest with, if necessary,
of the “fittest” corporations and people - means guile and deceit (Noreen, 1988). Their oppor-
that it is only corporations that are ‘weak” in tunism includes shirking and stealing (Watts &
some sense which do not survive, and so, Zimmerman, 1986, p. 185). In a world where
despite the unfortunate consequences, it is nobody can be trusted, everything has to be
rational and therefore desirable that they should contracted, implicitly or explicitly, and so a
collapse. Non-survival is a hard fact of nature major focus of mainstream research is contracts.
and mainstream researchers are tough enough What goes on “inside” people is soft, sub-
to live with that fact. They even subject their jective, unobservable and personal, and is not
research to this machismo test, as an ultimate the concern of mainstream accounting research.
arbiter of worth: “the methodological criticisms This is especially so with respect to the interior
[of positive theory] have failed the market test experience of the researcher. They must main-
because they have had little influence on tain a strict subject-object distinction and this
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 333

is most achievable via empiricism. Once one Masculine or Yang. Despite an ideal of
moves from observations of the outside object- separation from society, mainstream re-
world, into subject-ive ontological reflection, searchers, by instilling their views into
epistemological contemplation or deep critical students, colleagues and institutions, and
questioning about what one is doing, one has promulgating and defending their views in
failed to achieve the ideals of mainstream society, do change society. They move the
research. world further in the direction in which they see
Mainstream research is extremely hard, dur- it as now being - like Lot’s wife, changed to
able and unchanging, because of the system of stone.’
controls, and inner ideals of researchers, which
mitigate against any substantial criticism or
change. “Fine tuning of the machine” is en- ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTING RESEARCH:
couraged, such as adjusting the nuts and bolts CREATING THE NEGATIVE SPACE
of the statistics, the measurement “instruments”,
the observation procedures, the quality of the The potential named the “Universal Feminine”
data, and so on, and so there is abundant or “Yin” in this paper, is inherent in all exist-
replication. However, there is no fundamental ence, and cannot be permanently repressed and
questioning of the mainstream worldview from denied. Within all the disciplines there is
within it. Mainstream journals, such as The currently occurring a painful “dying to” and
Accounting Review and the Journul of Account- “letting go” of the unbalanced Yang vision of
ing Research do not publish critique papers, the world, which has progressively and accel-
unless they include either solutions to the eratingly filled all space - thought, ways of
problems they raise, or a “new and better seeing, relationships, decisions, choices and
theory”, so that the empty space created by behaviour. Nowhere have the energies of the
such a critique paper can be instantaneously Feminine or Yin been more repressed than in
and efficiently filled. The “market test” (i.e. the accounting practice and discourse, and main-
extent of the inlluence on accounting research, stream accounting research. Now, however,
Watts & Zimmerman, 1990, p. 149) of the like many others in many disciplines and walks
worth of research, in this regulated market for of life, many accounting researchers are allow-
accounting research, ensures that mainstream ing the energies of the Feminine, repressed in
researchers are confirmed in their worldview the unconsciousness by a culture which denies
by an absence of publications which might any stirrings of the Universal Feminine, to rise
soften or change their hard paradigm. to consciousness and be real-bed.
Accounting discourse and accounting prac- These researchers are not afraid of, but seek,
tice reproduces, reifies and legitimizes the the dark: the is-not (Choudhury, 1988), the
everyday or common-sense worldview (Hines, silence (Arrington & Francis, 1989) the dif-
1988, 1989a, b, 1991). The dominant, planetary, ference (Shearer & Arrington, forthcoming),
common-sense worldview has been described the inner, soft and subjective (Boland, 1989;
as an unbalanced Yang worldview in this Hoskin & Macve, 1986, 1988; Knights &
paper. Even though mainstream researchers Willmott, 1985, 1989; Knights & Vurdabakis,
maintain that their research is separate from forthcoming; Miller, 1987; Miller & O’Leary,
reality and does not influence it, mainstream 1987; Miller & Rose, 1988; Roberts, 1991;
financial and management accounting research, Walsh & Stewart, 1988; Willmott, 1986;
like accounting practice, reproduces, reifies and Willmott & Knights, 1982).
legitimizes the worldview of the Universal Hopwood ( 1990, p. 16) calls for views which

’ Cirlot (1971, p. 253) explains the symbolism of myths of petrification (i.e. being turned into stone) as relating to an
arresting or petrifying of the impetus to moral progress and “evolution of the soul”.
334 RUTH D. HINES

illuminate “both how accounting became what By “modernism” we mean the claim to practice Science
it was not and how it might become what it as we understood the term in high school. Extract from
life if you can what is value-laden ethical, cultural,
currently is not”. Choudhury ( 1988) discusses
tacit, skillful, smooth, curved - all things counter,
the creative life-giving role of non-existence, original, spare, strange; and what will be left is modernism.
non-happenings, zero and absence, especially
the richness of “absence research” (p. 550): Modernism has urged us since the 17th century
and with increasing stridency during the 20th century
Fleming’s serendipitous discovery of penicillin was to dismiss as doubtful or worse that which does
instigated by the absence of bacterial growth in not come from formal and quantitative experiments
some parts of the laboratory culture. In some disci- directed at testing the implications of higher-order
plines, certain types of absences have attained signifi- axioms; it has urged us to leave strictly to the side the
cance as phenomena worthy of study in their own matters of moral force and human meaning.
right (rather than as counterparts to presence),
for example, poverty (absence of wealth) and It is mainly an academic creation, taking its ideas of
deviance (absence of conformity) in sociology; negli- science from the blackboard and its ideas of science
gence (absence of care) in law; amnesia (absence of policy from the army. It shows therefore in many parts
memory) in psychiatry, a free market (absence of of academic life, in academic procedures for promotion,
regulation) in economics and so on (Choudhury, 1988, for instance, which require not reading and reflection
p. 550). and earnest argument by the candidate’s immediate
colleagues but a putatively objective Procedure resem-
bling Prussian bureaucracy, and having many of its
Water is a symbol of the Universal Feminine. charms.
It is moist, soft, flowing and receptive, strong
enough to wear away mountains, and unafraid It has been a useful dream, hut it is time to wake
to plunge into the dark, empty space of the up (Klamer & McCloskey, 1989, pp. 17-18. 20)
abyss (Grigg, 1989; Watts, 1979). Arrington &
Francis (1989) embrace deconstruction “to Klamer & McCloskey (1989) suggest “the
afIirm the abyss” in the domain of knowledge wake up bell has sounded” in many disciplines.
and thus affirm the permanent possibility of Pollner (1974, 1989) makes it clear that
social change (p. 9). They wish to “restore life mundane reasoning (that is, ordinary, everyday,
to its original difficulty which modernism and common-sense reasoning, which is the same
metaphysics have veiled and caused us to reasoning which underlies all rationalist dis-
forget” (p. 9). They use deconstruction to resist course, including accounting and mainstream
“closing off the conversational space of account- accounting research discourse, see Hines, 1991)
ing research” (p. 7) to create a “moment of is essentially occult. Common-sense reason
negation” (p. S), to encourage the discovery of creates a world, and there is no escape from
“what is not said” (p. 8). Likewise, Shearer & that world unless one “empties” oneself. Our
Arrington (forthcoming) are not interested in very knowing, traps us in the world as we know
reproducing discourse which fills space with it, and as our knowing constitutes it, and as this
the sameness of what now exists and silences knowing constitutes us, and traps us in it. In
all difference, but rather they wish to focus Hindu philosophy, this web of illusion in which
on “all that has been excluded from the we are trapped, which we call “reality”, is
symbolic and social orders . [and] to speak called “maya” (see also Ajaya, 1983; Capra,
from the space of negativity within Western 1983a; Chetwynd, 1982; May, 1988):
discourse” (p. 4).
Klamer & McCloskey ( 1989, p. 18) claim that The spider is a symbol with three distinct meanings;
“our culture is awakening from a modernist sometimes they merge or overlap, sometimes one or the
dream of three-and-one-half centuries duration”. other predominates. The three meanings are derived
from: (i) the creative power of the spider, as exempli-
They vividly capture the dry barrenness, and
fied in the weaving of its web; (ii) the spider’s
tyranny, that results from the repression of all aggressiveness and (iii) the spider’s web as a spiral net
that is of the Universal Feminine: converging towards a central point. The spider sitting in
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 335

its web is a symbol of the centre of the world, and is Neimark (1990) voices concern that account-
hence regarded in India as Maya, the eternal weaver of ing research which draws on postmodern phil-
the web of illusion. The spider’s destructive powers are
osophers such as Foucault (e.g. Burchell et al.,
also connected with its significance as a symbol of the
world of phenomena Spiders, in their ceaseless 1985; Loft, 1986; Knights & Collinson, 1987;
weaving and killing - building and destroying - Miller 81 O’Leary, 1987; Hopwood, 1987b) may
symbolize the ceaseless alternation of forces on which ultimately not be radical but “neo-conservative”
the stability of the universe depends. For this reason, the (p. 108) due to “the combination of disem-
symbolism of the spider goes deep, signifying as it does,
powering rhetoric, an absence of emancipatory
that “continuous sacrifice” which is the means of man’s
continual transmutation throughout the course of his possibility and the lack of interest in the
life (Cirlot, 1971, p. 304). material world” (pp. 108- 109). Furthermore,
“how can Foucault know what he claims
Maya is the “consensus reality orientation” without some general concepts, without a
“consensus trance” or “cultural trance” theory?” (p. 108).
Em which we need to “wake up” (Tart, 1986). Neimark suggests that these scholars who
As Ajaya ( 1983, p. 251) states it, drawing on draw inspiration from postmodern philosophies
the Western psychology of Jung, and Eastern such as Foucault “are caught in a web of power
traditions: relations, and free-floating language games,
discourses and ad hoc constellations that they
When one moves to a more evolved mode of con- endlessly and ‘neutrally’ describe” (1990, p.
sciousness, the perspective changes, and what had 110). As such, they are not sufficiently com-
seemed to be important and real becomes insubstantial
mitted to the “material world of work and
and unimportant One passes through a series of evolu-
tionary changes. Each time he awakens thorn one dream,
power” or to “social change” and are “not
he finds himself enmeshed in a more subtle dream. ‘Ihis merely ignoring, but being actively hostile
process continues until he reaches unitary consciousness. to, the broader materialist emphasis of Marx”
(p. 107).
AS Houston (1987, p. 104) puts it, “soulmaking From the perspective of this paper, her
requires that you die to one story to be reborn concerns seem to come from an old dream,
to a larger one”. from which many accounting researchers are
Foucault’s (1971, 1979, 1982) intellectual waking, in which negative spaces were not
contribution lies in articulating the power- allowed. In waking from this dream, researchers
knowledge web, in explaining how “the will to allow the lack, abyss, emptiness and absence:
exercise dominant control in society and the lack of an empowering rhetoric, an absence
history has also discovered a way to clothe, of emancipatory possibility, a lack of interest in
disguise, rarify and wrap itself systematically in materiality, a lack of rationalist concepts, a lack
the language of truth, discipline, rationalist, of theory, a spiritual darkness of not knowing
utilitarian value and knowledge” (Said, 1983, how to “solve” the world’s ills, or how to
p. 216, quoted by Neimark, 1990, p. 106). It release oneself from the captivity of reason and
seems that Foucault, given his commitment and discourse. They have a readiness and courage to
attachment to the path of the intellect and stand, un-accountable.
reason, did not transcend and escape the inner From this perspective, there is no spider in
and outer cultural web: any ultimate sense - no “cause” beyond
rationalist thinking, no concrete “structure”
According to Foucault, we cannot escape from the which exists separately and independently of
regimes of power/knowledge to some transcendental perceptions and social practices, no dualities
regime of emancipation and truth (one which is not one
beyond dualistic thinking. The message of the
more production of power) The best we can do is
spider is that there is no ultimate spider -
move from one regime of poweriknowledge to another
We are caught in a web without a spider and there no explicit, exterior, hard, objective “cause”
is no escape (Neimark, 1990. p. 107). or “perpetrator”, or “persecutor”, neither “social
336 RUTH D. HINES

structure”, “capitalism”, “class” or “gender”. Thus As Wittgenstein said, “Laws, like the law of causation
there are no simple, explicit, uniform, action- etc. treat of the network and not of what the network
describes”. For the game of Western philosophy and
oriented, efficient cures for society’s many ills.
science is to trap the universe in the networks of words
Prematurely filling the negative space created and numbers, so that there is always the temptation to
by this perception relieves the pain and frustra- confuse the rules, or laws, of grammar and mathematics
tion accompanying it, but it is an illusory cure. with the actual operations of nature.
The contribution of the research which draws
we must not confuse the game-rules of thought
on postmodern philosophers, cited by Neimark,
with the patterns of nature (Watts, 1979, p. 42).
is to show that reason and rationalist dis-
course are a web, the realization of which
is an essential precursor to escaping or tran- In order to address issues of alienation then,
scending this web, and becoming an emanci- researchers must address the inner web, that is,
patory influence for others. (Nevertheless, her subjectivity, and most importantly, their own
caution is congruent with the perspective (Willmott, 1986; Knights & Willmott, 1989;
of this paper, to the extent that any new Willmott & Knights, 1982).
mode of analysis or description can become Alternative research may be characterized as
concretized and “enshrined as the New Method” an attempt to retrieve the lost Ilniversal
(Neimark, 1990, p. 106) and then come to Feminine or Yin, by its concern for the
reproduce the un-balanced Masculine world- subjective; its illumination of the interdepen-
view.) Watts (1979, p. 54) discusses reason as dence between the inner and outer, subject
a game of artificially imputting cause and effect and object, observer and observed, mind and
namings: matter, and the illusory nature of their pre-
sumed split (e.g. Boland, 1989; Boland 8r
[In the game of the] basic law of cause and effect we Pondy, 1983; Chua, 1986b). Also, by a concep-
think that lack of rain causes a drought, and a drought tion of the fluid, interactive nature of reality-
causes famine, and famine causes death. Rut lack of
not reality concretely pre-existing people “out
rain, drought, famine, and death are simply four
ways of looking at, and describing the same event.
there”, but as arising in interaction with and
Given living organisms, lack-of-rain = death. The notion influencing the sentient person (Hines, 1989a,
of causality is simply a lame way of connecting the 1991; Morgan, 1988). An emphasis on relating
various stages of an event which we have distinguished and caring, about the adverse consequences
and separated for purposes of description; so that,
engendered by accounting and accounting
beguiled by our own words, we come to think of these
stages as different events which must be stuck to-
research, pervades alternative research. Com-
gether again by the glue of causality (Watts, 1979, pp. plexity, diversity and proliferation are valued,
5455). rather than researchers submitting to demands
for standardization and repetition. Difference
Manicas (forthcoming, p. 8) makes a similar and disagreement between researchers char-
point: “It is often said that science searches for acterizes alternative research. This is seen
causes. But it is almost never noticed that the as a “weakness” and a “problem” by mainstream
view of causality which is then assumed derives researchers, but as a sign of abundance, creat-
from Hume, a regularity notion, such that C is ivity and potential by alternative researchers.
the cause of E means ‘whenever C, E’“. Because of this abundance and difference, this
When one holds an inner view of the world research is resilient and resistant to efforts to
as split into subject and object, cause and effect, name, bound, unify, enclose and objectify it. It
mind and matter, this is externalized in dis- does not have a standard designation but is var-
course, and projected onto society and nature iously called “alternative”, “radical”, “critical”,
in the act of perceiving. This results in an “social constructionist”, “sociopolitical”, each
objectification of relationships and nature, and of these by no means representing a consensus
hence alienation: naming. Critique is seen as essential to growth
 FILLING THE NEGATIVE SPACE 337

of knowledge, since it is the anomalies, contra-
dictions and inadequacies, the “death” and
“letting go” of theories and knowledge, which
provides the ground, impetus and direction for
the birth of new insights and knowledge.
Alternative research is not rigidly enclosed in
dry, rationalist, academic styles of presentation
but embraces such imaginative forms as drama
(Pinch et al., 1989), dialogue (Hines, 1988)
and pictorial collage (Hopwood & Loft, 1989).
Hopwood & Loft (1989) pictorially illustrate
the tyranny of the conception of linear time as
reproduced through accounting disclosure, and
its associated ideals of efficiency, productivity,
perfectionism and progress.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
This paper has argued that most people and
societies in the present planetary order are
dominated by the un-balanced Masculine or
Yang worldview. In order for a balancing, an
emergence of the Universal Feminine or Yin is
necessary, so that a genuine union or integra-
tion may occur between the two: an integration
of thinking and reasoning with intuition and
feeling; a balancing of active and productive
doing, with stillness and contemplation; a
preparedness to receptively wait as well as
aggressively confront; a blending of material
concerns with spiritual realization; a dilution of
the respect for analysis, discourse and argument
with a love of silence; a complementing of
dualistic thought with intuitive holistic seeing;
a softening of the attachment to logic with a
receptivity to imagination and dreams; a turning
of the coin, to see that the other side of linear
time and permanent change is the turning and
returning of time, and permanence in change.
There are no “conclusions” to this paper,
to fill and close off the “negative space” of
the Feminine or Yin realm, much less hard
directives for future research. Incessant reason-
ing and discourse about the Universal Feminine
or Yin simply serves to intellectualize and
objectify it, turning “it” back into the hard
stone of the un-balanced Masculine or Yang.
Unpopular though it be, in the world at
present, I wish to affirm the silence.

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