Abstract
The advantage and disadvantage of an anthology like this one is that the reader receives a fascinating picture regarding the variety of political humor around the world—but such variety makes it difficult for any coherent picture to emerge regarding political humor writ large (globally). The present concluding chapter raises several questions regarding the possibilities for such “universal” theorizing and offers some methodological proposals for carrying out such research. Although it is clear that the subject of political humor is at base qualitative, with a high degree of subjectivity, nevertheless it might well be possible to employ more rigorous approaches to the phenomenon that after all has existed for well over two millennia and still found almost everywhere around the world.
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Notes
- 1.
Given that several of the dependent variables are subjective i.e., based on the perspective of national culture, one cannot use the same coders/scorers for different countries because no scorer could be aware of the many differences in the way each national citizenry perceives their own politician’s humor.
- 2.
Two such joke examples are worth telling, not coincidentally with the same country as the joke’s victim: The first we have already seen in Chap. 7 where Poles ask: “Why do we call the U.S.S.R. ‘our brother’ and not ‘our friend?’ Because you can choose a friend.”
The second joke involves Russian-Jewish immigrants to Israel before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Such an immigrant is invited by an Israeli neighbor for afternoon tea.
Israeli: I hear that it takes a decade in the Soviet Union to get an apartment.
Immigrant: Really can’t complain.
Israeli (taken aback): What about a car? I understand you had to wait five years to buy one.
Immigrant: Well, you can’t complain.
Israeli (now really surprised): I’ve seen photos of huge lines waiting to buy some meat.
Immigrant: “I didn’t complain.”
Israeli (dumbfounded): Then why did you move to to Israel
Immigrant (quizzically): What do you mean? Here in Israel, I’m allowed to complain!
- 3.
I do not suggest including completely dictatorial regimes. The assumption here is that although they might hold “elections,” such political systems are not going to countenance much political humor addressed at the ruling regime e.g., contemporary Russia or Iran. Therefore, such a category should not be included in any regression analysis. However, political humor in authoritarian regimes is certainly a worthy subject of research on its own.
References
Feldman, O. (2024). Communicating political humor in the media: How culture influences satire and irony. Springer.
Fox, J. (2016). The unfree exercise of religion: A world survey of religious discrimination against religious minorities. Cambridge University Press.
Gurr, T. (1970). Why men rebel. Princeton University Press.
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Lehman-Wilzig, S. (2024). Political Humor: Theoretical Questions, Methodological Suggestions. In: Feldman, O. (eds) Political Humor Worldwide. The Language of Politics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8490-9_13
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