Socially Critical Humor: Discussing Humor with Erich Fromm and Theodor W. Adorno

This article brings Erich Fromm and Theodor W. Adorno back into dialogue by discussing the cultural phenomena of humor and laughter based on their theoretical writings. I argue that what is typically considered socially critical humor, like offensive jokes or harsh satire, often fails to meet the pr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Hietalahti, Jarno
Formato: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Lenguaje:Portugués
Publicado: Universidade Estadual de Campinas 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/ideias/article/view/8649776
http://biblioteca-repositorio.clacso.edu.ar/handle/CLACSO/48335
Descripción
Sumario:This article brings Erich Fromm and Theodor W. Adorno back into dialogue by discussing the cultural phenomena of humor and laughter based on their theoretical writings. I argue that what is typically considered socially critical humor, like offensive jokes or harsh satire, often fails to meet the preconditions of criticism in the light of Adorno’s and Fromm’s thinking. Humor, to be socially critical, has to be life-affirmative and non-positional, and it has to challenge the limits of humor. It is also claimed that in this scope, humor cannot be instrumental.