American Political Humor

Touchables and Taboos

Bibliographic Data

ID6298632
AuthorsJoseph Boskin (Urban Studies & Public Policy Program at Boston University, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume11
Issue4
Pages473-482
Publication date1990-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0192-5121 • E-ISSN: 1460-373X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/019251219001100405
OpenAlexW2001210768
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited2

The historical view of political humor in America maintains that the humor adheres to democratic theory and practice, viz., its dimension boundless, its character egalitarian, its substance encompassing and its expression open. In short, the position embraced both by the popular and academic cultures is that the humor is unrestricted and removed from taboos. A perusal of its content, however, suggests the contrary. Political humor reflects the nexus of power relationships and is sharply bounded by an ideology on the one hand and by corporate structure on the other. The primary focus is rather on the political official as the flaw in the system while the system itself and its underlying theory remain unexamined within the culture of humor

Democracy · Epistemology · Ideology · Media studies · Nexus (standard · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Philosophy

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