Section 3: Broader Social Context: How Does Humor Function in Social Relations and Culture?
20 Humor as a Double-Edged Sword: Uniting and Dividing in Social Interaction
Abstract
Humor serves diverging social purposes as we encounter it in our daily discourse. Its functions range on a continuum from highly unifying to strongly dividing. From humor’s prosocial, cooperative identification function, to the memorable clarification function, to the somewhat critical enforcement function, to the antisocial and divisive differentiation function, humor sets and reinforces social norms and boundaries. Humor serves key functions at multiple levels of human interaction, including interpersonal, group, and organizational relationships. ...
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