Jokes and Targets
by Christie Davies
Jokes and Targets takes up an appealing and entertaining topic—the social and historical origins of jokes about familiar targets such as rustics, Jewish spouses, used car salesmen, and dumb blondes. Christie Davies explains why political jokes flourished in the Soviet Union, why Europeans tell jokes about American lawyers but not about their own lawyers, and why sex jokes often refer to France rather than to other countries. One of the world’s leading experts on the study of humor, Davies provides a wide-ranging and detailed study of the jokes that make up an important part of everyday conversation.
Distribution: World
Publication date: 4/28/2011
Format: paper 328 pages
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-253-22302-9
"The most distinguished scholar of ethnic humor in the postwar period . . . has collected and organized a large body of jokes and identified and described the contradictory values or ideas they manipulate." —Paul Lewis, author of Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict
"A definitive account of what is probably the most numerous and dominant kind of joke, those with a definite target. Davies’ scholarship is the state of the art." —Victor Raskin, author of The Primer of Humor Research
"Why are stupidity, cunning, and a variety of sexual proclivities attributed in jokes to particular groups and social classes? Christie Davies reviews a broad range of jokes to formulate an answer." —Elliott Oring, author of Engaging Humor
"Davies maintains a lively, provocative style—refreshing in a genre that is all too commonly soulless. . . . Highly recommended." —Choice
"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 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
"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
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.
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