Anatomy of the Joke

Berger, Arthur Asa

doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1976.tb01913.x

Cited by 122 publications

(42 citation statements)

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“…In particular, Hatch (1997: 283) suggests that ironic forms of humor "constitute contradictory realities and encourage switching between them… it can support stability and change as contradictory realities and may even help us to understand the paradoxical relationship between them that has been commented upon by other researchers (e.g., Quinn andCameron 1988, Van de Ven andPoole 1988)". Indeed, humor is noted to be dualistic (Berger, 1976;Hatch, 1997;Martin, 2004), enabling the juxtaposing of otherwise incongruous or contradictory elements and so allowing for them to be re-conceptualized as both/and rather than either/or.…”

Section: Constructing and Responding To Paradox Through Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

We Have To Do This and That? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Jarzabkowski

Lê

2016

Organization Studies

170

233

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. We have to do this and that? You must be joking: Constructing and responding to paradox through humor This paper adopts a practice approach to paradox, examining the role of micro-practices in shaping constructions of and responses to paradox. Our approach is inductively motivated. During an ethnographic study of an organization implementing paradoxical goals we noticed a strong incidence of humor, joking and laughter. Examining this practice closely, we realized that humor was used to surface, bring attention to, and make communicable experience of paradox in the moment by drawing out some specific contradiction in their work. Humor thus allowed actors to socially construct paradox, as well as -in interaction with others -construct potential responses to the multiple small incidences of paradox in their everyday work. In doing so, humor cast the interactional dynamics that were integral in constructing two response paths: (i) 'entrenching a response', whereby an existing response was affirmed, thereby continuing on a particular response path, and (ii) 'shifting a response', whereby actors moved from one response to paradox to another, thereby altering how the team collectively responded to paradoxical issues. Drawing on these findings, we reconceptualize paradox as a characteristic of everyday life, which is constructed and responded to in the moment. This paper was inspired by an observation we made a few months into our ethnographic study of a telecommunications firm beset with paradox: People make a lot of jokes about paradoxical conditions. We increasingly found ourselves sharing things participants had been laughing about, as we 'checked in' with each other after fieldwork. For example, one particular day managers were working with the paradoxical tensions occasioned by trying to implement a joined-up technology across divisions that had to maintain strict structural separation to comply with regulation. Tensions were running high as they discussed a 'piece robot' technology that might get around the problem without co-locating their engineers. Suddenly, laughing, one of them suggested that what they really needed was a 'peace robot' to help settle the tensions between them in trying to do their jobs in this paradoxical structural context. The others in the meeting quickly joined the joke, laughing and making peace signs in the air, insisting the peace robot should be included in the resulting action plans. Laughing, the team leader agreed and the meeting progressed with a better will to work with the paradoxical conditions to implement the joined-up technology. Sure enough, there was a humorous picture of a robot with a peace symbol on its chest and doves on its shoulders in the action plans, which occasioned further laughter at the next meeting. Permanent repository linkRevisiting our notes, we often found ourselves chuckling at such humorous incidents.These managers were dealing with pa...

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Section: Constructing and Responding To Paradox Through Humormentioning

confidence: 99%

We Have To Do This and That? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Jarzabkowski

Lê

2016

Organization Studies

170

233

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“…A ênfase está, portanto, na comunicação. Assume-se como premissa que o humor é uma forma de discurso, cujo significado, se expresso de outra forma, talvez passasse despercebido, porém, em sua forma cômica, afeta a interação inter-pessoal (Koestler, 1964;Berger, 1976;Duncan, 1984;Fine, 1984;Hatch, 1993).…”

Section: Humor E Ironia Em Estudos Organizacionaisunclassified

“…Nos últimos anos, a análise do humor e da ironia nas organizações passou de menções ocasionais a um veio fértil de pesquisa (e.g., Koestler, 1964;Berger, 1976;Duncan, 1984;Fine, 1984;Hatch, 1993;Rodrigues e Collinson, 1995;Aidar e Alves, 1997;Carrieri, 2004). Ironia e humor são termos de uso próximo: ambos, quando em uso, têm a capacidade de causar tensão entre a percepção dominante da realidade e uma perspectiva alternativa.…”

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Rindo do que? Como consultores reagem ao humor crítico e à ironia sobre sua profissão

Wood¹,

Caldas²

2005

Organ. Soc.

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RESUMOurante a última década, seguindo o rápido crescimento de seu setor, os consultores e as firmas de consultoria passaram a sofrer diversas críticas. Este artigo procura sumarizar as críticas vindas de acadêmicos, jornalistas e, especialmente, aquelas presentes em textos humorísticos e irônicos. Por meio de uma investigação colaborativa, na qual utilizaram-se técnicas de projeção e de análise de conteúdo, foram analisadas as reações a anedotas de uma amostra de consultores de quatro organizações. Os resultados sugerem que esse grupo de profissionais é sensível às críticas, embora apresente uma tendência a racionalizar, de maneira defensiva, as críticas encontradas, no lugar de utilizar as mensagens e os sentidos implícitos para reflexão e auto-desenvolvimento. ABSTRACTuring the last decade, following the rapid growth of its industry, consultants and consulting firms have been exposed to several critiques. This paper summarizes the critiques coming from scholars, journalists and, specially, those coming from comic and ironic texts. Through a collaborative investigation, in which a mixed methodology of projective techniques and content analysis was used, the reactions to jokes about consultants from a sample of consultants from four professional services organizations were analyzed. The results suggest that this group of professionals is sensitive to critiques, but tends to rationalize, in a defensive manner, the critiques, instead of using the messages and meanings for reflection and self development.

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“…Moreover, for over one hundred years, scholars have searched for a theoretical understanding of humor (Bui-jzen and Valkenburg 2004) and pondered its place in advertising (Beard 2005). Of the multiple theories and perspectives, three major approaches have emerged: relief theory, whereby people laugh because they need to reduce physiological tension from time to time (Berlyne 1972); superiority theory, whereby people laugh because they feel triumph over others (Meyer 2000); and incongruity theory, whereby people laugh at things that are unexpected or surprising (Berger 1998a(Berger , 1998b. Modern humor theorists believe that these three theories are complementary and that many instances of humor can be explained by more than one theory (Buijzen and Valkenburg 2004).…”

Section: Humor In Advertisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Prevalence and Influence of the Combination of Humor and Violence in Super Bowl Commercials

Blackford

Gentry

Harrison

et al. 2011

Journal of Advertising

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Anatomy of the Joke

Cited by 122 publications

References 0 publications

We Have To Do This and That? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

We Have To Do This and That? You Must be Joking: Constructing and Responding to Paradox Through Humor

Rindo do que? Como consultores reagem ao humor crítico e à ironia sobre sua profissão

The Prevalence and Influence of the Combination of Humor and Violence in Super Bowl Commercials

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