{"id":2490,"date":"2019-04-01T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T16:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2490"},"modified":"2019-04-01T11:12:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T16:12:40","slug":"thats-not-funny-social-context-and-humor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2019\/04\/01\/thats-not-funny-social-context-and-humor\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;That&#8217;s Not Funny!&#8221; Social Context and Humor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/marckjerland\/4633544440\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2019\/04\/4633544440_7345f5db41_z-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Three women laughing side by side\" class=\"wp-image-2493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2019\/04\/4633544440_7345f5db41_z-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2019\/04\/4633544440_7345f5db41_z-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2019\/04\/4633544440_7345f5db41_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Photo by Marc Kjerland, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">It may be April Fools Day, but the sociology of humor is no joke! Social science research demonstrates that humor reflects societal conditions and can be important for social cohesion. For example, \u201cinside jokes\u201d &#8212; shared references between members of a group &#8212; promote social cohesion and ensure the group continues to exist by reminding members of the group\u2019s shared history and their social ties to each other. <br><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sociology.northwestern.edu\/people\/faculty\/core\/gary-alan-fine.html\">Gary Alan Fine<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/socant.chass.ncsu.edu\/faculty_staff\/madesouc\">Michaela DeSoucey<\/a>. 2005. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.degruyter.com\/view\/j\/humr.2005.18.issue-1\/humr.2005.18.1.1\/humr.2005.18.1.1.xml\">Joking Cultures: Humor Themes as Social Regulation in Group Life<\/a>.\u201d <em>Humor.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Women tend to use cohesion-building humor &#8212; treating the audience as a cohesive unit &#8212; and women rarely make jokes when men are present. Men, on the other hand, tend to use differentiating humor &#8212; calling out specific members of their audience and building hierarchies. In other words, using differentiating humor challenges the sense that \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together\u201d and instead point out distinctions between group members. Thus, humor can be viewed as a wedge or glue depending on who is using it. <br><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/sociology.uga.edu\/directory\/people\/dawn-t-robinson\">Dawn T. Robinson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sociology.duke.edu\/people\/lynn-smith-lovin\">Lynn Smith-Lovin<\/a>. 2001. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/sf\/article-abstract\/80\/1\/123\/2234315\">Getting a Laugh: Gender, Status, and Humor in Task Discussions<\/a>.\u201d <em>Social Forces<\/em> 80(1): 123-158.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Humor can also reveal cultural tensions in particular times and places. For instance, in Malawi \u201cAIDS humor\u201d reflects the huge shadow cast by the disease over everyday life. For instance, many jokes play on the multiple meanings of \u201cto give\u201d &#8212; relationships are often a place of expected exchange, but have also become a key location for the spread of HIV. One cartoon includes the picture of a man kneeling beside a woman saying, \u201cwell, you asked me for a romantic present &#8212; I\u2019ve just given you AIDs, girl.\u201d While many outsiders would not view these jokes as funny, AIDS <em>is <\/em>sometimes funny to those in Malawi because it touches the lives of those reading and listening to the jokes. <br><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/as.nyu.edu\/content\/nyu-as\/as\/faculty\/iddo-tavory.html\">Iddo Tavory<\/a>. 2014. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/idp.springer.com\/authorize\/casa?redirect_uri=https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11186-014-9222-7&amp;casa_token=vFWqHiyAQ5kAAAAA:3q2zYfS4jf5FXK5zbdH1s8_zLl062ZhvUoOifSNCIrbeVluDDuWqWuikkfzmFDioWzMs1UhdZCze6DQv\">The Situations of Culture: Humor and the Limits of Measurability<\/a>.\u201d <em>Theoretical Sociology<\/em> 43(3-4): 275-289.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The next time you tell a joke, consider how you\u2019re responding to a particular social context or situation and whether your humor is pointing out distinctions or bringing people together. <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It may be April Fools Day, but the sociology of humor is no joke! Social science research demonstrates that humor reflects societal conditions and can be important for social cohesion. For example, \u201cinside jokes\u201d &#8212; shared references between members of a group &#8212; promote social cohesion and ensure the group continues to exist by reminding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,33,13],"tags":[115573,115569,115570,38543,115574,38544,16385,256,38541,115568,37606,16457],"class_list":["post-2490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-health","category-inequality","tag-aids-humor","tag-april-fools","tag-april-fools-day","tag-culture","tag-gallows-humor","tag-health","tag-heirarchy","tag-humor","tag-inequality","tag-joke","tag-laughter","tag-social-cohesion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2490"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2497,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}