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Self-Deprecating Humor: A Survival Tool for the Jewish People?
... Whether they are professional comedians or not, Jews often use humor to communicate, such as by answering a question with a question, making a sarcastic remark, or even poking fun at themselves. The authors have previously examined self-deprecation in Jewish humor (Friedman & Friedman, 2023); here, they turn the tables to look at wit turned outward. This paper will examine sarcasm as employed by Jewish humor. ...
There has been much scholarship regarding Jewish humor and where it might come from. Of course, Jews are not all the same. There are, or have been, Jews in most countries of the world, so there is no single shared Jewish culture or even history-at least over the last 2,000 years. If there is something Jews all over the world do share, it is probably the Hebrew Bible and the early Rabbinic literature as well. Those who believe that Jewish humor only dates back to the 17 th century in Eastern Europe, overlook the rich vein of irony, sarcasm, and wit that permeates the foundational texts forming a cornerstone of Jewish cultural expression. Was there a lack of sarcasm in the Torah and Rabbinic literature that you missed 3,000 years of irony, scorn, and derision?
This article discusses the persistent deployment of racial stereotypes in contemporary stand-up comedy and its potential hegemonic or counter-hegemonic effects. It asks whether racial stereotypes should be avoided or condemned altogether, considering the risks of interpretative ambiguity and offensiveness, or, alternatively, whether there are specific performative strategies and conditions that might make racial stereotype humour a powerful weapon in the anti-racist toolbox. As regards the first, several critiques are considered and it is shown that racial stereotype humour, and its reception, may harbour multiple, subtle forms of racism. In terms of defences, racial stereotype humour’s role of discharging stubborn psycho-affective investments is highlighted, as well as its function as ‘subversive play’. The article further pays special attention to aspects of audience reception (such as issues of missed subtlety and ‘clever’ laughter) and the importance of the comic’s racial positionality in performing racial stereotypes.
Because most theories of humour emphasize its intersubjective and/or semantic nature, they fail to fully appreciate and explain self-directed humour. Through a critical exploration of the implications of different theories of humour and satire, this paper argues that the spectrum of reflexive humour and satire can be categorized according to the figure of the satirist and the target of satire, both of whom can feature individual or collective social selves. Depending on the satirist and the scope of satire, the functions of reflexive humour may range from securing psychological homeostasis to dealing with more impersonal, social and philosophical concerns.
Racial humor has long been a part of American culture, but its potential for varied interpretation leads to a wide range of possible effects, which have only recently become an area of investigation in psychological research. The literature on racial and disparaging humor, and particularly its conceptualization according to the “sword and shield metaphor” (Rappoport, 2005), points to 3 possibilities that vary in terms of intention and perception and have the potential to affect the outcomes associated with racial humor. When racial humor is antisocial in intention (i.e., used as a sword) and perceived as such, it may reinforce the social hierarchy and stereotypes about the individuals it targets, potentially loosening societal norms that discourage expressions of prejudice. When racial humor is prosocial in intention (i.e., used as a shield) and perceived as such, it may serve to challenge and protect against prejudice and create affiliation between members of groups who may be affected by social inequality. Finally, some prosocially motivated ethnic humor may be misperceived as antisocial, presenting the possibility of unintentionally (and ironically) reinforcing the status quo rather than subverting it. Despite this wide range of potential outcomes, we maintain that humor’s inherently social and ambiguous nature presents a hopeful opportunity for the discussion and possible reduction of prejudice—as long as the humor itself is embedded in a discussion that raises awareness of the issues it addresses. Equally important is the need for those who use such humor to understand its potential to be bad, good, or misunderstood.
The author argues for the use of humorous texts to help students develop critical reading/viewing skills and to promote social justice issues.
Prejudice and discrimination are not funny. Yet ‘jokes' denigrating minority groups abound and are socially consequential. We contribute to the literature on intergroup humour through considering how minority group members may themselves use humour in their encounters with majority group members. Below, we consider minority group members' experiences of prejudicial intergroup encounters and their interaction management strategies. We then consider research on intergroup humour before reporting interview data originating from a minority group subject to much everyday discrimination and disparagement: Hungarian Roma. In particular, we explore how minority group members report using humour so as to allow themselves a degree of control over their interactions with majority group members. In so doing, we contribute to the literature on minority group members' interaction management strategies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
In this article, I consider the standard interpretation of the superiority theory of humor attributed to Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes, according to which the theory allegedly places feelings of superiority at the center of humor and comic amusement. The view that feelings of superiority are at the heart of all comic amusement is wildly implausible. Therefore textual evidence for the interpretation of Plato, Aristotle, or Hobbes as offering the superiority theory as an essentialist theory of humor is worth careful consideration. Through textual analysis I argue that not one of these three philosophers defends an essentialist theory of comic amusement. I also discuss the way various theories of humor relate to one another and the proper place of a superiority theory in humor theory in light of my analysis.
Humour has been intertwined with politics since ancient times, when the pharoahs in Egypt and emperors in China first appointed court jesters. In ancient Athens, democracy was born alongside comedy in the fifth century. Aristophanes’s Lγsistrata was the first in a long line of anti-war comedies. In his handbook On the Orator, Cicero offered tips to politicians on when and how to use humour in speeches. He advised them not to make jokes about tyrants, for example, since the audience will expect something stronger. Political cartoons have been part of newspapers almost as long as there have been newspapers, and the rise of democracy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was correlated with the rise of sophisticated political cartooning in the hands of Gillray, Rowlandson, Daumier and Nast. Around the world, political jokes are a standard part of conversation. In the United States, political jokes on television are monitored by politicians to gauge the success or failure of their campaigns.
The first part of the paper delineates grounds for doubting that enhancing performances are as pervasive as the self-presentational literature suggests. Then, the notion of structural ambivalence is used to demonstrate that there is considerable “leeway” in role taking, especially in the case of humorous or playful behaviour. Extending this analysis, it is argued that self-mockery constitutes an important aspect of the presentation of self. The remaining sections of the paper seek to define, illustrate and explore the functions of various types of self-mockery. Above all, it is suggested that self-mockery serves to increase the positive emotional sentiments among participants.
The view that Jewish humor is self-denigrating is widely held, but it is doubtful whether it is true except in the very weak sense that the Jews, like the members of most other minorities, frequently tell jokes about their own group. Although many Jewish jokes use scripts that are congruent with anti-Semitic stereotypes, the tone of the jokes tells us that the tellers are neither hostile to their own people nor inclined to support the parallel stereotypes. Jewish jokes play with hostility and stereotypes; they do not endorse them.
Social network techniques to determine the connections between factors and patterns of joking behavior are illustrated with data collected over 5 yrs from 19–73 yr old people in 25 work groups. Ss were asked to select their favorite and least favorite leaders and followers, to identify the best employees in their groups, and to answer questions about the humor network of the group. Four stereotypical over-chosen and over-rejected group members were identified: the arrogant executive (excluded from joking on the job), the benign bureaucrat (retaliated against when joking), the solid citizen (free interchange of jokes), and the novice (excluded from aspects of joking). Group status appears to be less a determinant of one's position in the joking pattern than is one's role in the larger social network. Moreover, joking lubricates social relations and may indirectly improve performance by improving group cohesiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Theories of self-effacing ethnic humor are analyzed from the perspectives of psychological defense and acculturation. These processes are contrasted with masochism as explanations of self-directed wit. Developmental paradigms are appealed to in conceptualizing the sociocultural function of humor. Identification with the aggressor is conceptualized as a transitional mechanism to assimilate the minority into the host culture. Turning against the self is developed as an alternate mechanism that uses humor as a means of self-empowerment. Reframing and splitting are posited as integral to the defensive process of ethnic humor. The method of luring the aggressor into a situation that is then used against him is construed as the kamikaze maneuver and conceptualized as an ambush technique in which the role of self-effacement facilitates aggression. The analytic elements of these approaches are explored with reference to Jewish humor as a stereotype of the wit of a transient and oppressed people, and annotated examples are offered from published anthologies. Illustrative vignettes, ranging from the mundane to the clinical, are annotated in the discussion. Directions for further inquiry are outlined for issues unresolved in the research literature.
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