Sébastien Tutenges
Associate Professor | Senior Lecturer
Laughter in stories of crime and tragedy : The importance of humor for marginalized populations
Author
Summary, in English
Humor is essential to social life, but it is often overlooked in the study of crime and other social problems. We introduce and make use of humor theory, emphasizing the theories of superiority and relief. Based on interviews with incarcerated men, we demonstrate how humor is used to criticize authorities, for self-aggrandizement, and to alleviate the pain of tragic experiences. Funny remarks and stories are often ambiguous and evade simple categorization, which may explain why humor is neglected in the study of social problems. We argue that researchers should pay more attention to humor to achieve a fuller understanding of marginalized individuals and their social worlds.
Department/s
- Department of Sociology
- Sociology
- Social Anthropology
Publishing year
2019
Language
English
Pages
564-579
Publication/Series
Social Problems
Volume
66
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Keywords
- humor
- narrative criminology
- relief theory
- superiority theory
- marginalization
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0037-7791