Jokes and Targets by Christie Davies

Jokes and Targets by Christie Davies

Why certain groups tell jokes about other groups

I recommend Jokes and Targets as a valuable scholarly study where thoughtul analysis is brought to bear on a wide variety of significant materials and the writing style is pleasantly engaging

* Studies in American Humor *

Jokes and Targets deserves a wide readership among persons interested in humour as well as comparative and cultural sociology. Davies shows that cross-national comparison can produce good theory and rigorous analysis, without losing sight of cultural specificities.

* Sociology *

Christie Davies' Jokes and Targets is a well-written and well-researched book.

* H-France Review *

Jokes and Targets, being an excellent piece of scholarship, helps to further clarify why certain targets have become conventional and what are the rules that govern target choice.

* Folklore *

Jokes and Targets is well worth the price of admission. It is a valuable addition to Davies's existing and esteemed corpus of humor research.

* Cultural Analysis *

[J]okes and Targets is an important addition to Davies' significant previous research on various categories of verbal joke. . . [T]his book, like Davies' previous work, contains a valuable repertoire of jokes from important contemporary joke cycles. These important and sometimes hard-to-find examples will be a rich source for other scholars. Vol. 11.1 2013

* New Directions in Folklore *

Davies maintains a lively, provocative style—refreshing in a genre that is all too commonly soulless. . . . Highly recommended.

* Choice *

Christie Davies has a very good claim to be the scholar to consult on the universal phenomenon of the joke, with the added bonus that he offers plenty of hilarious examples.

* Journal of Contemporary Religion *

This is a serious book, clearly written (no sociological jargon from this sociologist!), about something that makes no political difference . . . but that is, after all, deeply embedded in us to the extent that we are social creatures.

* Chronicles *

Christie Davies is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Reading, UK. He was president of the International Society for Humor Studies in 2008–2009. His previous books include Ethnic Humor around the World: A Comparative Analysis (IUP, 1990); Jokes and their Relation to Society; and The Mirth of Nations.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780253223029
ISBN 10	0253223024
Title	Jokes and Targets
Author	Christie Davies
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Indiana University Press
Year published	2011-05-23
Number of pages	328
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.