Justification and accounting: applying sociology of worth to accounting research Marcia Annisette and Alan J. Richardson Accounting Area, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce and illustrate the insights of the sociology of worth as advanced by sociologist Luc Boltanski and his collaborator economist/statistician Laurent The ´venot in their works, including their path-breaking book De la justification published in 1991. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the basic tenets of this “new sociology” and draws on it to render a reinterpretation of Ansari and Euske’s study of cost accounting in a military depot. Findings – The sociology of worth complements extant sociological approaches to accounting by providing a language and a conceptual tool-box for understanding the multiple rationalities in which accounting is implicated. In addition, given its pragmatic micro level approach to accounting, it has the potential to act as a bridge between institutional theory and practice theory. Originality/value – This paper is the first known to render an extensive discussion of Boltanski and The ´venot’s work in the accounting literature and to apply insights from this work to accounting research. Keywords Net worth, Sociology, Accounting research, Accounting theory Paper type General review 1. Introduction “Situated justice”, “equivalences”, “orders of worth”, “common goods”, “qualified objects”, “grammars of worth”, “compromise” are some of the critical terms constituting the conceptual terrain of the sociology of worth (SOW) as advanced by French sociologist Luc Boltanski and his collaborator economist/statistician Laurent The ´venot. Heralded by some as the “new sociology” (Wagner, 1994), this body of work has had an enormous impact on French sociology since the launch of its manifesto De la justification: Les e ´conomies de la grandeur published in 1991[1]. Despite its success in transforming French sociology, as well as other disciplinary arenas, and despite accounting academia’s long standing fascination with French intellectual currents, insights from Boltanski and The ´venot’s (B&T’s) SOW have yet to make an appearance on the landscape of accounting research[2]. In particular, the focus of SOW on the process of measurement and comparison of worth in society provides an obvious entre ´e into accounting issues. We will also argue that SOW contributes to our understanding of the structure and interaction of the multiple rationalities affecting organizational life and provides an intellectual bridge between institutional theory and practice theory. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3574.htm The authors would like to thank the editors and reviewers for their helpful comments in developing this paper. Justification and accounting 229 Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 24 No. 2, 2011 pp. 229-249 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0951-3574 DOI 10.1108/09513571111100690