Numerous politicians and scholars have argued that accountability of public authorities to citizens, clients, and societal actors is needed in the current age of governance. Academic debates about social accountability are however scattered with incompatible conceptualizations, high normative expectations, and sobering findings. This article develops an in-depth framework that provides a comprehensive definition and typology of social accountability. It discusses major empirical challenges to social accountability and multiple behavioral styles within social accountability. By distinguishing consensual and confrontational styles of account-holding and account-giving, this article shows that social accountability could serve multiple purposes that go beyond rosy ideals.

许多政治家和学者认为，在当前的治理时代，需要公共机构对公民，客户和社会行为者负责。然而，关于社会责任的学术辩论分散在不相容的概念，高标准的期望和发人深省的发现中。本文开发了一个深入的框架，该框架提供了社会责任的全面定义和类型。它讨论了对社会责任和在社会责任内的多种行为方式的主要实证挑战。通过区分帐户持有和给予帐户的共识和对抗风格，本文表明，社会责任可以达到超出理想境地的多个目的。