Wit and Politics: An Essay on Laughter and Power

Speier, Hans

doi:10.1086/231355

Cited by 120 publications

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“…It is not without reason that revolutionaries (along with scientists) have been labelled humourless. 2 Indeed, much social protest is fuelled by anger and fear, which leave little room for more frivolous thoughts. Humour is also a highly complicated tool: the sense of humour varies strongly among classes, groups, and time.…”

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confidence: 99%

Humour and Social Protest: An Introduction

Hart¹

2007

Int Rev of Soc His

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In the introduction to this volume, the author explains why social historians should study the relationship between humour and social protest in the past. The following questions are of interest. Under what conditions did laughter serve the cause of the protesters? How did humour strengthen social protest? And to what degree has humour been an effective tool for contentious social movements? Recent developments in the field of social movement theory regarding framing, collective identity, and emotions are combined with insights from humorology. A short account of the individual contributions follow: they range from the Zapatistas in Mexico to Vietnamese garment workers, from sixteenth-century Augsburg to Madrid and Stockholm in the 1990s. The findings point, above all, to the power of humour in the framing of political protest. Humour was used in quite different political opportunity structures, from open democratic societies to harsh repressive regimes. Often, humour furthered the development of the collective identity of a social movement, whereas in several cases humour acted as a powerful communication tool, serving as a true “weapon of the weak”.

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Humour and Social Protest: An Introduction

Hart¹

2007

Int Rev of Soc His

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“…I have not identified any stunts in favour of the status quo, but this possibility is not excluded by the definition. Speier (1998Speier ( : 1353 writes that there are more jokes from "above" at the expense of the downtrodden than from below targeted upwards, but does not document this claim. Since his source of data mainly involves speeches and biographies of statesmen, it is highly unlikely that he should find evidence of upward directed humour there.…”

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confidence: 99%

Humorous political stunts: Speaking “truth” to power?

Sørensen¹

2013

EJHR

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“…On ancient humour and wit -Segal 1968;Laurence and Paterson 1999: 183-197;Speier 1998Speier : 1352Speier -1401Corbeill 1996;and Haliwell 2008. The two main ancient sources for laughter inducing acts or utterances (ridicula) are Cicero's De Oratore Book 2 and Quintilian's Institutio oratoria Book 6.…”

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“…Claud. 40; Belonging to the 'rich treasury of the instruments of politics' (Speier 1998(Speier : 1354, humour, jokes and witticisms are common among Philip's anecdotes, and reveal well this king's connection between his political skill and charisma.…”

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Tales of Philip II under the Roman Empire: aspects of monarchy and leadership in the Anecdotes, Apophthegmata, and Exempla of Philip II

Welch¹

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Wit and Politics: An Essay on Laughter and Power

Cited by 120 publications

References 9 publications

Humour and Social Protest: An Introduction

Humour and Social Protest: An Introduction

Humorous political stunts: Speaking “truth” to power?

Tales of Philip II under the Roman Empire: aspects of monarchy and leadership in the Anecdotes, Apophthegmata, and Exempla of Philip II

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