Accounting for interned Japanese-American civilians during World War II: Creating incentives and establishing controls for captive workers

On February 19, 1942, following the attack on Pearl Har­bor and the declaration of war against Japan, President Roosevelt is­sued Executive Order 9066 which empowered the Secretary of War to exclude any and all persons from designated areas in the United States. Shortly thereafter, some 120,000 civilians of Japanese descent were prohibited from living, working, or traveling on the West Coast. By October 1942, over 100,000 evacuees were relocated and con­fined to ten remote internment camps for the duration of the war. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) administered these camps and had the responsibility to feed, house, educate, and provide em­ployment for the evacuees. This article describes the WRA\u27s use of ac­counting information and situates the role of accounting within a la­bor-process framework. It initially discusses labor-process theory and provides an overview of the internment episode and cooperative ac­counting in the U.S. It then focuses on particular accounting policies, procedures, and reports that were used by the WRA to manage en­terprises, monitor internment activities, and socialize evacuees with American capitalistic values