Situating Laughter: Amusement, Laughter, and Humour

567 Pages·2013·3.46 MB·English

by  Eduardo Jáuregui

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE
Department of Political and Social Sciences

Situating Laughter:
Amusement, Laughter, and Humour
in Everyday Life

by
Eduardo S. Jauregui

Thesis submitted for assessment with
a view to obtaining the Degree of Doctor of the
European University Institute

Florence, March 1998
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE
Department of Political and Social Sciences

Situating Laughter:
Amusement, Laughter, and Humour
in Everyday Life

by
Eduardo S. Jauregui

Thesis submitted for assessment with
a view to obtaining the Degree of Doctor of the
European University Institute

Examining Jury:
Prof. Pier Paolo Giglioli (Università di Bologna)
Prof. Steven Lukes (EUI - supervisor)
Prof. Gianfranco Poggi (EUI)
Prof. Greg Smith (University of Salford - co-supervisor)

Florence, March 1998
ii
Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the Spanish Ministerio de Asuntos
Exteriores for the research grant which has allowed me to pursue this project, and to
the European University Institute, especially its Department of Social and Political
Sciences, for providing me with its trust, support, services, and the ideal work
environment.
I also thank the following people and institutions, without whom this thesis would
not have been what it is:
Steven Lukes for his encouragement, advice, and counterinstances, and for
believing in the project throughout; Greg Smith for his detailed, caring, and
constructive criticism of these many pages, and for giving me the chance to air some
ideas in public; Gianfranco Bettin, Bernard Giesen, Pier Paolo Giglioli, Marina
Mizzau, Gianfranco Poggi, Arpad Szakolczai, and Matthieu Williams for their support
and suggestions; Jason Rutter for providing us humour researchers with a cyberspace
forum and a vast and ordered bibliography; Eva Breivik for much advice, information,
and help in the SPS corridor; Ellen Robson, for bestowing upon me the computer on
which these words were written; the libraries from which I so enormously benefited --
the British Library in London, the John Rylands, Lewis, and University of Salford
libraries in Manchester, and the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence; all those who more
or less intentionally provided me with empirical material and thoughts on laughter,
including many a researcher whose work I ransacked for data and ideas; the Northcott,
I.H., and Oña gangs, with whom I have had the pleasure of sharing more laughter than
humans should be allowed; mamá, papá, Pablo, Javi, Elena, Maite, Luna, Boston, los
Jaureguis y los Narvaez; and Emanuela for helping me to learn, among other things,
that a thesis is not everything in life, and for living many of those other bits with me.

iii
Note on the use of gender-biased pronouns

My treatment of everyday social interaction has required frequent references to
unspecified or hypothetical social actors. I have employed the masculine terms 'he' and
'his' throughout to refer to such individuals, despite the gender bias inherent in the
convention, because I find the alternatives ("the person", "he/she", “s/he”...) awkward
and cumbersome when used frequently. Wherever 'he' or 'his' are used in this way,
therefore, the reader is asked to understand 'he or she'.
iv
Dedication

To the memory of Barbara Allaway,
Who had a funny little sausage dog.
v
Summarized Table of Contents

PART ONE

Chapter One: Preliminaries page 17

1. Introduction page 19
2. The Thesis page 21
3. The Laughter Triad page 37
4. Conclusions page 53

Chapter Two: Causal Theories of Amusement page 57

1. Introduction page 59
2. Traditions in Amusement Theory page 61
3. Amusement Theory and its Validation page 81
4. Conclusions page 105

Chapter Three: The Discrediting of Actors' Self-Claims page Error!
Bookmark not defined.

1. Introduction page 109
2. Claim-Discredit Humour Theory page 111
3. The Sociology of Erving Goffman page 125
4. Mutual References page 137
5. Conclusions page 145

PART TWO

Chapter Four: A Hypothesis of Amusement page 149

1. Introduction: The Hypothesis page 151
2. Self-Claims page 155
3. Claim-Discredits page 175
4. Conclusions page 193

Chapter Five: A Typology of Funny Events page 197

1. Introduction page 199
2. Funny Events in Untransformed Reality page 209
3. Funny Events Within Transformed Reality page 259
4. Conclusions page 275

vi
Chapter Six: Elaborations of the Model page 279

1. Introduction page 281
2. The Requirement of Identity Distance page 283
3. The Requirement of Involvement page 293
4. Amusement Modifiers page 311
5. Combinations of Funnies page 317
6. Conclusions: The Full Hypothesis page 321

PART THREE

Chapter Seven: Laughter and Humour page 327

1. Introduction page 329
2. The Meaning and Deployment of Laughter Displays page 335
3. The Meaning and Deployment of Humour Displays page 363
4. Conclusion page 377

Chapter Eight: Effects of Amusement, Laughter,
and Humour page 379

1. Introduction page 381
2. Effects of Amusement page 385
3. Effects of Humour Pieces page 391
4. Effects of Laughter and Humour Displays page 395
5. 'Functions' of Amusement, Laughter, and Humour page 481
6. Conclusions page 489

Chapter Nine: Situating the Laughter Triad page Error!
Bookmark not defined.

1. Introduction page 495
2. Summary of Proposals page 497
3. Cross-Cultural Validity page 499
4. Situating the Laughter Triad page 521
5. Conclusions page 533

Bibliography page 537
vii
General Table of Contents

PART ONE

Chapter One: Preliminaries page 17

1. Introduction page 19

2. The Thesis page 21

2.1. Subject page 21
2.2. Aims page 22
2.3. Scope and Method page 25
2.4. Rationale page 27
2.5. Preview page 31

3. The Laughter Triad page 37

3.1. Amusement page 37
3.2. Laughter (Display) page 46
3.3. Humour page 49

4. Conclusions page 53

Chapter Two: Causal Theories of Amusement page 57

1. Introduction page 59

2. Traditions in Amusement Theory page 61

2.1. Monistic Theories page 61
2.1.1. Aggression/Superiority Theory page 61
2.1.2. Incongruity Theory page 65
2.1.3. Tension-Release Theory page 68
2.1.4. Play Theory page 72

2.2. Pluralistic Theories page 75

2.3. 'No Theory' page 78

viii
3. Amusement Theory and its Validation page 81

3.1. Amusement and Conventional Scientific Methods page 82
3.2. Aggregate Introspection page 84
3.3. Aggregate Introspection in Humour Research page 85
3.4. The Method in Detail page 89
3.4.1. Development and Testing of a Hypothesis page 89
3.4.2. Individual Assessment page 94
3.4.3. Aggregate Assessment page 95

3.5. A Successful Precedent page 97

4. Conclusions page 105

Chapter Three: The Discrediting of Actors' Self-Claims page Error!
Bookmark not defined.

1. Introduction page 109

2. Claim-Discredit Humour Theory page 111

2.1. False Fronts: Plato, Moore, and Pirandello page 111
2.2. Bad Art: Aristotle, Carritt page 115
2.3. Unfulfilled Ends: Baillie page 119
2.4. Deviance: Bergson, Klapp, Powell, Jauregui page 121
2.5. Others page 123

3. The Sociology of Erving Goffman page 125

3.1. Self-Claims on the Everyday Stage page 126
3.2. Discredit and the Sacred Self page 129
3.3. Frames of Experience page 132
3.4. Summary page 135

4. Mutual References page 137

4.1. Goffman on Humour Research page 138
4.2. Humour Research on Goffman page 143

5. Conclusions page 145

PART TWO

Chapter Four: A Hypothesis of Amusement page 149

1. Introduction: The Hypothesis page 151

ix
2. Self-Claims page 155

2.1. Definition of 'Self-Claim' page 155
2.2. Self-Claim Variables page 158

2.2.1. Origin of Self-Claims page 158

2.2.1.1. Independent Self-Claims page 158
2.2.1.2. Role Self-Claims page 159
2.2.1.3. Universal Self-Claims page 161

2.2.2. Content of Self-Claims page 163

2.2.2.1. Self-Claims of Skill page 163
2.2.2.2. Self-Claims of the Mind page 164
2.2.2.3. Self-Claims of Territory page 166
2.2.2.4. Self-Claims of Appearance page 168
2.2.2.5. Self-Claims of Biography page 169

2.3. Claim Makers and Claimants page 171
2.4. Self-Claims and Social Norms page 172

3. Claim-Discredits page 175

3.1. Definition of 'Claim-Discredit' page 175

3.1.1. Requisites of Discredit Perception page 177
3.1.2. Catalysts of Assessment page 180
3.1.3. Uncertainty, Disagreement, and Bias page 181

3.2. Claim-Discredit Variables page 184

3.2.1 Cause of Discredit: Accident / Agent page 184
3.2.2 Claimant Discredited: Self / Other page 185
3.2.3. Location of Discredit:
Untransformed / Transformed Reality page 186

3.2.3.1. Levels of Reality page 186
3.2.3.2. Types of Transformations page 187
3.2.3.3. Frame Structures page 190

4. Conclusions page 193

Chapter Five: A Typology of Funny Events page 197

1. Introduction page 199

2. Funny Events in Untranformed Reality page 209

2.1 Type I. The Accidental Discredit of an Other’s Self-Claims page 211

2.1.1. Type I - Independent Self-Claims page 211
2.1.2. Type I -Role Self-Claims page 215
2.1.3. Type I - Universal Self-Claims` page 217
2.1.4. Summary of Type I Funny Events page 226
x