Accounting as capital and field of struggle: Symbolic power and labour relations in municipal government

This paper examines how accounting operates simultaneously as a form of capital and as a field of struggle within municipal government. Focusing on a conflict in Córdoba, Argentina, it analyses how the introduction of transparency and administrative control through the disclosure of employment data reconfigured the balance of power between government and public sector unions. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and doxa, the study shows how accounting practices shape the boundaries of legitimacy, authority, and accountability within politicized bureaucratic contexts. The Accounting-Based Information System (ABIS) became both a technical and symbolic resource through which actors sought to maintain or transform their position within the municipal field. By situating these dynamics in the global south, the study extends critical accounting research by demonstrating how accounting initiatives are embedded in historically constituted relations of power and belief, and how they contribute to ongoing struggles over the meaning and legitimacy of public service and governance.