Kavous Ardalan
This paper proposes that a multi-paradigmatic approach, as an organizing framework, be used in social accounting. As an example, this paper applies that multi-paradigmatic approach to financial statements in order to understand the social roles of financial statements. This paper shows that each paradigm has its own distinct perspective, i.e., technical, cultural, political, or class perspective, where the technical perspective focuses on techniques of operations, the cultural perspective focuses on social construction, the political perspective focuses on power and domination, and the class perspective focuses on oppression and exploitation. This paper notes that, while each of the four perspectives has its own advantages and disadvantages, each perspective looks at a different aspect of the phenomenon under consideration, and therefore, together they provide a broader and more balanced understanding of the phenomenon under consideration in an organized, methodical, and systematic manner.