Download The Sociology of Jokes and Laughter by Dr. Shervin Vakili

An excerpt from the book's introduction: A significant part of human social behavior is, in some way, engaged with this phenomenon. We see that specific linguistic elements have evolved to induce this behavior, and a distinct social hierarchy has formed based upon it. With a brief look at zoology and neuroscience, we will see that laughter is not a gift of the gods, nor the distinguishing feature of humans from animals. Rather, it is a behavior with deep evolutionary roots that, besides humans, is also seen in great apes. On the other hand, with a sociological perspective, we will find that laughter, as a social action, plays a prominent role in regulating social communications. When we look at the phenomenon of laughter from this viewpoint, we notice points that, at first glance, seemed improbable and far-fetched. The main subject of this text is jokes and linguistic humor. The reason jokes have gained importance is that they have a seemingly simple structure and small size, and can be examined as one of the smallest replicating units of information in the field of culture . . .

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