Thesis Title:
The Political Economy of Pensions: The Ramifications of IAS 19 Employee Benefits on Business and Society
Thesis Abstract:
Retirement income technologies have been central to the emergence of neoliberalism in the modern world. The shift from a system that upheld social security to one that redefined pension planning as a personal enterprise has transformed individuals into homo economicus, driven by competition and utility maximisation. International Accounting Standard 19: Employee Benefits (IAS 19) sets the rules of the game for the types of pension schemes companies offer their employees. The introduction of IAS 19 from the 1980s onwards led to a significant decline in traditional defined benefit plans in favour of defined contribution plans, which have since become ubiquitous. This shift has disciplined the employee and transformed them into what Foucault termed the “entrepreneur of the self”, placing responsibility for retirement in the hands of the individual and rendering employees into financialised subjects.
This research examines the relationship between pensions and poverty through an analysis of the political origins, accounting treatments, and standard-setting implications of IAS 19: Employee Benefits, and its effects on business and society. It draws on genealogical and historical methods (Foucault, 1979), sociological methods (Becker, 1998), and ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews with actuaries, pension managers, and standard setters, to analyse the political construction of IAS 19 and to explore how it has transformed financial security in retirement in contemporary Britain.
Primary Supervisor:
Dr Claudine Grisard