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Laughter in stories of crime and tragedy : The importance of humor for marginalized populations

Sandberg, Sveinung and Tutenges, Sebastien LU (2019) In Social Problems 66(4). p.564-579
Abstract
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.
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
humor, narrative criminology, relief theory, superiority theory, marginalization
in
Social Problems
volume
66
issue
4
pages
564 - 579
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85063218184
ISSN
0037-7791
DOI
10.1093/socpro/spy019
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
478141d8-02ed-48ad-a205-466ff0db649f
date added to LUP
2019-04-10 14:48:17
date last changed
2022-04-25 22:30:04
@article{478141d8-02ed-48ad-a205-466ff0db649f,
  abstract     = {{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.}},
  author       = {{Sandberg, Sveinung and Tutenges, Sebastien}},
  issn         = {{0037-7791}},
  keywords     = {{humor; narrative criminology; relief theory; superiority theory; marginalization}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{564--579}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Social Problems}},
  title        = {{Laughter in stories of crime and tragedy : The importance of humor for marginalized populations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spy019}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/socpro/spy019}},
  volume       = {{66}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}