Jokes and Targets [Paperback]

Jokes and Targetstakes up an appealing and entertaining topicthe social and historical origins of jokes about familiar targets such as rustics, Jewish spouses, used car salesmen, and dumb blondes. Christie Davies explains why political jokes flourished in the Soviet Union, why Europeans tell jokes about American lawyers but not about their own lawyers, and why sex jokes often refer to France rather than to other countries. One of the world's leading experts on the study of humor, Davies provides a wide-ranging and detailed study of the jokes that make up an important part of everyday conversation.

Davies (emer., Univ. of Reading, UK) is perhaps the most eminent of the sadly limited number of sociologists who have considered humor worthy of serious study. Here he focuses on cataloging and analyzing various types of jokes, ranging from 'stupid and canny' through blond and lawyer to Jewish and Soviet-era jokes. The sheer coverage of this work is most impressive; after a close reading, it becomes clear that Davies's various interpretations deserve serious consideration. For example, he maintains that people who generally regard themselves at the center of things tell 'stupid' jokes about those they consider to be at the geographical and linguistic marginshence 'Irish' jokes in the UK or 'Newfie' jokes in Canada. Other jokes are told about 'static' groups (aristocrats, peasants, dumb blonds) in a rapidly changing world. Davies makes two contestable claims. He warns correctly against absolutist interpretations of jokes: context is everything. More arguably, he claims that jokes have no social consequences. Narrowly, this might be so, but one could argue that his disregard of 'ideological framing,' whereby soft joke 'othering' facilitates harder versions, is unjustified. Throughout, Davies maintains a lively, provocative stylerefreshing in a genre that is all too commonly soulless. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers and all levels of sociol³0