The neoliberal conception of corruption in the accounting discourse of JBS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-6486.rco.2023.192429Keywords:
Corruption, Neoliberalism, Critical accounting, Accounting reports, Critical discourse analysisAbstract
Corruption is an extensively studied social phenomenon which became increasingly present in the Brazilian public debate in recent years. In this article, we assume that neoliberal ideology disseminates a particular conception of corruption predominantly situated in public agents, and whose remedy therefore involves weakening the state. This conception is widely spread by international organizations that present preconceived solutions to eliminate corruption. It is therefore the purpose of this article to investigate how corruption-related discourses are presented and promoted in the annual corporate reports of a large company involved in a corruption case. To that end, critical discourse analysis, more specifically Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, was used. Among the main findings, it was possible to conclude that, in its reports, the company attempts to escape accountability for the corruption acts by smoothing them out and attributing them to a specific group within the organization. It was also possible to identify an alignment with the neoliberal conception of corruption by blaming it on the state as the agent of corruption and adopting readymade solutions disseminated and legitimized by international neoliberalism-oriented organizations.
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