Robinson, Dawn T., Smith-Lovin, Lynn. (2001). Getting A Laugh: Gender,
Status, and Humor in Task Discussions*. Social Forces, 80, 123-158.
Background and Purpose: The general purpose of this study is to show how humor operates in task-oriented group discussions. The researchers used the opportunity to study the dynamic occurence of humor during group conversations. The researchers are using the functions of humor to come up with ideals about who it is that actually does the joking (male or female), and when and where this joking takes place. The hypothesis suggests an image of joking as dealing with status in a society, the male sex, people who are very participatory and those that are frequent interrupters (or interrupted often themselves) to all show status-related patterns of humor use. The researcher’s further have a theory that if they know about the way people engage in humor, then they will be able to predict who will do so, and in what environment or circumstances.
Through various methods and procedures, there were more theories generated dealing with: the content of humor episodes and time dependence. (Findings are found in the Findings /Results section below).
Methods and Procedures: To carry this study out, they used event history techniques in order to analyze humor attempts and successes. They did this using groups of 6 people each. They further used their results with their insights on status and emotion to develop a new theory (talked about in the Background and Purpose section above). Once this theory was developed, they examined what they had from the additional data from the group discussions. Many ways that they came up with their findings in the research was by using bar graphs to plot their knowledge.
Findings / Results: In looking at the humor episodes, they found that a higher portion of men’s than women’s humor is differentiating, while a higher portion of women’s than men’s humor is cohesion-building. A frequent claim is that men tell more jokes than women and in describing feminine speech style, Robin Lakoff suggested in the abstract that women “have no sense of humor”, and also that they never effectively tell nor “get” jokes. They found that the gender/joking difference is noticeable in children by the young age of 6 years old.
With time dependence, they found that there was a lot of it in humor use. They note the timing is everything. As far as timing in conversation goes, and the concept of the pressure value (humor releasing pressure/tension), Robinson and Lovin comment that the highest rates of humor then should be during that latter part of the conversation when
“When the rich wage war it’s the poor who die”, Jean-Paul Sartre, a prominent Marxist literary critic, existentialist philosopher and author stated in his 1951 drama, The Devil and the Good Lord. Wilfred Owen’s poetry is a profound protest at this fact. Owens poetry was shaped by the horrors of the first world war, he enlisted as a naïve young man with dreams of heroic deeds and “desperate glory” only to be exposed to the realities of what war really entailed. War opened his eyes to the “truth” of the world if looked at through a Marxist lens. He abhorred the patriotic poetry that gave a warped view of the war and wrote many poems depicting the horror and helplessness, he aimed to capture the pity of war in his poetry. Through this we can
In Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, he argues that the aim of humorists is not solely entertainment, but also to convey a message that isn’t always okay to state directly. There are many places where his argument can apply. Even with humor, some topics are still too controversial to joke about; However, in most cases, humor can lighten things up and make it easier to discuss topics that otherwise would not be as easy to talk about without heavy arguments. There are many cases that would make his argument true. There are many examples that support his argument, and that help to show the importance of humor in arguing, including cartoons, comics, works of literature, and also when thinking of hosts of television programs.
Thomas Paine anonymously wrote “Common Sense”, a pamphlet discussing the ideas of independence from Britain. This helped the colonists put their frustrations with their government into words. Paine wrote it so simply that anyone could understand his ideas, and it was quite persuasive. He says, “The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.” (Baym 326) Essentially, Thomas Paine explains how independence from the monarchy would be a really wonderful thing, and he ultimately explains that this independence is inevitable. He talks about how Britain is the parent of America. He compares America to a child growing independent of its parents. Although at one point, America was “flourish[ing] under her former connection with Great Britain”, he says that now it is time for America to grow independent. He uses the example of a child who has been raised on milk never moving on to eating meat. Although the child grew a lot on milk, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t continue to grow by eating meat, by gaining more independence. (Baym 326) And he says that while Britain is their parent country, parents shouldn’t “devour their young,” or “make war upon their families.” (Baym 327) He’s using this extended parent example to show that America really doesn’t need a parent country anymore. This idea of total independence from Britain put a lot in perspective for Americans at the time. They became empowered and confident in this idea of
Humor can take many forms, including practical jokes, teasing, insults and self-deprecation. It is a staple of humanity and plays an extremely important role in our psychology as we move throughout life’s stages. In fact, famed philosopher Immanuel Kant placed laughter alongside sleeping and hope as the most beneficial means of renewing the soul. It is commonly perceived as a beneficiary tool for healing and social interaction for everyone, but few have looked at the roles humor plays in the aging process. Meika Loe set out to examine this relationship in her book, Aging Our Way by utilizing several case studies of the elderly of various backgrounds. Loe has identified key case studies to support this hypothesis in Eddie, who uses humor to
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
Humor is a seemingly simple, enjoyable construct in life shared and valued by many. Traditionally, humor has been viewed as trivial and lacking substance from an academic and scholarly standpoint. However, humor can be objective in analyzing and answering the same questions philosophers ask, ones that question widely accepted everyday concepts and ideals. The Incongruity Theory reveals the affinity between philosophy and comedy and rebukes the argument that humor is “hostile and irresponsible” (Morreall) in academics.
Male gender roles were one key factor that led to the emergence of the strenuous life. During the beginning of Victorian America males had become “brain workers” (Go West Young Man: The
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Humor is a tremendous factor in our daily lives. In the numerous ways we communicate with other people, one of the vital ways is through humor because it helps people get through the hard times, and makes the good times even better. Most of the things people find to be “funny” are based on experiences that have happened to them, others, where they live, and the events happening at the time. When looking at each era, and the humor used in that time, you can see that based on the things happening in that time their sense of humor was different. Humor has existed throughout all of humanity, considering the fact that chimps laugh, just goes to show how long humor has been around. As a result of this, we must look at the philosophy of humor, and
Human conflict is a violent confrontation between groups of people due to differences in values and beliefs. During World War I, poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen, faced the harsh realities of human conflict, dying at a young age of 25, only six days before the war ended. Owen’s personal encounters during war had a profound influence on his life as reflected in the poems and letters he wrote before his passing. In using a variety of poetic devices to write about the suffering and brutality of war, vividly captured in his poems ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, Owen effectively conveys his own perspective about human conflict. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ depicts the horrific scenes on the battlefield and a grotesque death from drowning
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
Owen as a young soldier held the same romantic view on war as majority of the other naive soldiers who thought that war would be an exciting adventure. The documentary extract illustrates how markedly Owen’s perspective of the war changed, as noted in a letter to his mother while he was still in the front lines: “But extra for me, there is the universal perversion of ugliness, the distortion of the dead ... that is what saps the soldierly spirit.” In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Owen’s change of heart is evident through the irony of the poem title and the ending line “The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est, Pro patria mori.”, an allusion to the Roman axiom made famous by Horace, which translates to “The old Lie; It is sweet and right to die for your country.”. The line depicts Owen’s realisation that the horrific nature of war through human conflict is not sweet and right at all, rather, it is appalling and “bitter as the cud” as death is always present on the battlefield. Additionally, Owen indirectly responds to Jessie Pope’s poetry, a pro-war poetess, through the reference “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest… The old lie…”, further highlighting his changed perspective towards the war which has been influenced
Owen’s poem uses symbolism to bring home the harsh reality of war the speaker has experienced and forces the reader to think about the reality presented in romanticized poetry that treats war gently. He utilizes language that imparts the speakers experiences, as well as what he, his companions, and the dying man feels. People really die and suffer and live through nightmares during a war; Owen forcefully demonstrates this in “Dulce et Decorum Est”. He examines the horrific quality of World War I and transports the reader into the intense imagery of the emotion and experience of the speaker.
... Instead of idealizing war in a romantic way, war poets such as Wilfred Owen aimed to expose gruesome truths about these wars and how they impacted lives. It points a finger and criticizes the governments and authorities that wage these wars but don’t fight in them themselves but rather watch as lives are lost. It exposes propaganda for what it is, a tool for brainwashing. It puts into question the notion of dying for ones country to be noble, honourable and admirable.
Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and ‘The Last Laugh’, in which this essay will look into.