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A social and historical study of jokes told in the main English-speaking countries, based on an extensive use of archives and other primary sources including old and rare joke books. It is a tightly-argued book and uses the comparative method to undermine existing theories of humour, rooted in notions of hostility conflict and superiority and derived ultimately from Hobbes and Freud. Comparisons between the humour of specific nations and ethnic and regional groups make understanding the humour of each nation or group easier. Thus, Jewish humour is linked to that of the Scots, and Jewish jokes about Jewish women contrasted with Australian jokes about Australian men.
A social and historical study of jokes told in the main English-speaking countries, based on an extensive use of archives and other primary sources including old and rare joke books. It is a tightly-argued book and uses the comparative method to undermine existing theories of humour, rooted in notions of hostility conflict and superiority and derived ultimately from Hobbes and Freud. Comparisons between the humour of specific nations and ethnic and regional groups make understanding the humour of each nation or group easier. Thus, Jewish humour is linked to that of the Scots, and Jewish jokes about Jewish women contrasted with Australian jokes about Australian men.
Acknowledgments, 1. Introduction, 2. The Self-Mocking Scottish Sense of Humor, 3. The Balanced Jewish Sense of Humor, 4. Jokes about Jewish Women and Australian Men, 5. Canadian Jokes about Newfoundlanders: Neighborly, Bilingual, North American, 6. Jokes about Newfies and Jokes Told by Newfoundlanders, 7. American Jokes about Poles, 8. Polish Jokes and Polish Conflicts, 9. Conclusion, General Bibliography, Index
Christie Davies is professor of sociology at the University of Reading, England. He has been a visiting lecturer in India, Poland, and the United States, and has taught in Australia. He is the author of books on criminology, the sociology of morality, censorship and humor, and his work has been published as book chapters or in journals worldwide. These works include Wrongful Imprisonment, The Strange Death of Moral Britain, and The Corporation under Siege.
-The Mirth of Nations is a must for humor scholars. It is truly
interdisciplinary: It makes use of insights of linguistics in order
to answer questions posed within sociology and humor studies. It is
truly scholarly, unbiased and non-ideological.- -... a pleasure to
read, the style is lucid, and the voice of the author is
unmistakable and strong; the repetition of related points in many
parts of the book only serves to strengthen overall argument. What
is striking is the joy with which Davies refutes apparently false
claims, expressing his surprise at the fact that their proponents
did not bother to look for arguments to support their theses. The
true value of the study thus consists in the power of its argument,
which is derived from the thorough archive research and the
intellectual honesty of the author, who allows the picture of
ethnic joking to be complex and does not cover up difficult
issues.- --Humor -Davies... is a renaissance man who moves
effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries and has made
particularly original contributions in the area of religion, the
military, social control, crime, and penology. He is... a sceptic
about the taken-for-granted and someone with a mordant tongue and
pen for identifying the spurious and unexamined behind the facade
of 'the obvious'.- --Journal of Contemporary Religion -The
importance of The Mirth of Nations is that it takes jokes back from
the theorists and returns them to the comedians. And that's all of
us.- --The New Criterion -Christie Davies [is] the leading
authority on comparative ethnic humor...- --American Journal of
Sociology -The demon that drives Davis to such extraordinary
lengths is a determination to slay all those apostles of political
correctness who regard jokes about religious and ethnic minorities
as a likely cause of prejudice, hojstility and even aggression
towards such groups. There is, he argues, a dangerous circularity
about this conventional liveral view. Davies reckons that we can
get off this roundabout, only by looking carefully at the
relationship between two sets of -social facts- the patterns of
actual jokes and the social and cultural setting within which they
occur. Consider American jokes about Poles.- --The Times Higher
Education Supplement
"The Mirth of Nations is a must for humor scholars. It is truly
interdisciplinary: It makes use of insights of linguistics in order
to answer questions posed within sociology and humor studies. It is
truly scholarly, unbiased and non-ideological." ..". a pleasure to
read, the style is lucid, and the voice of the author is
unmistakable and strong; the repetition of related points in many
parts of the book only serves to strengthen overall argument. What
is striking is the joy with which Davies refutes apparently false
claims, expressing his surprise at the fact that their proponents
did not bother to look for arguments to support their theses. The
true value of the study thus consists in the power of its argument,
which is derived from the thorough archive research and the
intellectual honesty of the author, who allows the picture of
ethnic joking to be complex and does not cover up difficult
issues." --Humor "Davies... is a renaissance man who moves
effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries and has made
particularly original contributions in the area of religion, the
military, social control, crime, and penology. He is... a sceptic
about the taken-for-granted and someone with a mordant tongue and
pen for identifying the spurious and unexamined behind the facade
of 'the obvious'." --Journal of Contemporary Religion "The
importance of The Mirth of Nations is that it takes jokes back from
the theorists and returns them to the comedians. And that's all of
us." --The New Criterion "Christie Davies [is] the leading
authority on comparative ethnic humor..." --American Journal of
Sociology "The demon that drives Davis to such extraordinary
lengths is a determination to slay all those apostles of political
correctness who regard jokes about religious and ethnic minorities
as a likely cause of prejudice, hojstility and even aggression
towards such groups. There is, he argues, a dangerous circularity
about this conventional liveral view. Davies reckons that we can
get off this roundabout, only by looking carefully at the
relationship between two sets of "social facts" the patterns of
actual jokes and the social and cultural setting within which they
occur. Consider American jokes about Poles." --The Times Higher
Education Supplement
""The Mirth of Nations" is a must for humor scholars. It is truly
interdisciplinary: It makes use of insights of linguistics in order
to answer questions posed within sociology and humor studies. It is
truly scholarly, unbiased and non-ideological." ..". a pleasure to
read, the style is lucid, and the voice of the author is
unmistakable and strong; the repetition of related points in many
parts of the book only serves to strengthen overall argument. What
is striking is the joy with which Davies refutes apparently false
claims, expressing his surprise at the fact that their proponents
did not bother to look for arguments to support their theses. The
true value of the study thus consists in the power of its argument,
which is derived from the thorough archive research and the
intellectual honesty of the author, who allows the picture of
ethnic joking to be complex and does not cover up difficult
issues." --"Humor" "Davies... is a renaissance man who moves
effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries and has made
particularly original contributions in the area of religion, the
military, social control, crime, and penology. He is... a sceptic
about the taken-for-granted and someone with a mordant tongue and
pen for identifying the spurious and unexamined behind the facade
of 'the obvious'." --"Journal of Contemporary Religion" "The
importance of "The Mirth of Nations" is that it takes jokes back
from the theorists and returns them to the comedians. And that's
all of us." --"The New Criterion" "Christie Davies [is] the leading
authority on comparative ethnic humor..." --"American Journal of
Sociology" "The demon that drives Davis to such extraordinary
lengths is a determination to slay all those apostles of political
correctness who regard jokes about religious and ethnic minorities
as a likely cause of prejudice, hojstility and even aggression
towards such groups. There is, he argues, a dangerous circularity
about this conventional liveral view. Davies reckons that we can
get off this roundabout, only by looking carefully at the
relationship between two sets of "social facts" the patterns of
actual jokes and the social and cultural setting within which they
occur. Consider American jokes about Poles." --"The Times Higher
Education Supplement"
""The Mirth of Nations" is a must for humor scholars. It is truly
interdisciplinary: It makes use of insights of linguistics in order
to answer questions posed within sociology and humor studies. It is
truly scholarly, unbiased and non-ideological."..". a pleasure to
read, the style is lucid, and the voice of the author is
unmistakable and strong; the repetition of related points in many
parts of the book only serves to strengthen overall argument. What
is striking is the joy with which Davies refutes apparently false
claims, expressing his surprise at the fact that their proponents
did not bother to look for arguments to support their theses. The
true value of the study thus consists in the power of its argument,
which is derived from the thorough archive research and the
intellectual honesty of the author, who allows the picture of
ethnic joking to be complex and does not cover up difficult
issues."--"Humor""Davies... is a renaissance man who moves
effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries and has made
particularly original contributions in the area of religion, the
military, social control, crime, and penology. He is... a sceptic
about the taken-for-granted and someone with a mordant tongue and
pen for identifying the spurious and unexamined behind the facade
of 'the obvious'." --"Journal of Contemporary Religion""The
importance of "The Mirth of Nations" is that it takes jokes back
from the theorists and returns them to the comedians. And that's
all of us." --"The New Criterion""Christie Davies [is] the leading
authority on comparative ethnic humor..." --"American Journal of
Sociology""The demon that drives Davis to such extraordinary
lengths is a determination to slay all those apostles of political
correctness who regard jokes about religious and ethnic minorities
as a likely cause of prejudice, hojstility and even aggression
towards such groups. There is, he argues, a dangerous circularity
about this conventional liveral view. Davies rec
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