The hand that rocks the cradle: Disciplinary socialization at the American Accounting Association's Doctoral Consortium

Motivated by the current turbulence in academic accounting in the USA, this paper problematizes the disciplinary socialization that occurs beyond school-specific educational processes. Using data pertaining to the American Accounting Association's Doctoral Consortium, this paper illustrates that the most important lesson about academic accounting may have been the righteousness of the fields’ stratification hierarchy. In other words, learning one's place in the US academy may be more important than any theory or technique within academic accounting. The conduct of the Consortium casts doubt on a substantive socialization agenda.