The ambivalent affordances of humour in capitalist organizations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13079035 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Massih Zekavat (0000-0003-1280-5503, University of Groningen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 184-200 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Humour Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2307-700X • E-ISSN: 2307-700X |
| Publisher | Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies (PUBLISHER • PL) |
| DOI | 10.7592/ejhr.2023.11.1.728 |
| OpenAlex | W4361298454 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 18 |
Responding to concerns raised by Michael Billig (2018) regarding the functions of humour in capitalist organisations, this essay strives to convey how humour and satire can have liberating and empowering affordances for subjects in organisational contexts as they can potentially intervene in the negotiation and exercise of power through fostering negative dialectical thinking and estrangement. Revisiting the scepticism of Marcuse, Fromm, Horkheimer and Adorno toward humour, it strives to provide an initial theoretical framework to accommodate a more nuanced understanding of the functions of humour in power structures by locating it within the contingencies acknowledged by Frankfurt School critical theorists. Although humour can be co-opted to serve power and consolidate the status quo, it can also serve as a potential resistance strategy in capitalist societies and organisations
Aesthetics · Affordance · Ambivalence · Dialectic · Epistemology · Negotiation · Political science · Power (physics · Resistance (ecology · Skepticism · Social science · Sociology · Status quo · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |