13 What Else? Considering the Larger Implications of Humor

So far, we’ve read a lot of different works seeking to understand laughter in general. As you’ve been reading and learning about this subject, you’ve been writing about your own sense of humor and using the things you’ve read to analyze the things that make you laugh and how they relate to who you are. But we’ve really only begun to scratch the surface of this complex topic.

The readings linked in this section of this book are secondary sources that ask you to go beyond simply exploring why we laugh and really start to think about all the things that laughter does and what it means. In these readings you will be confronted with questions about how humor uses racial stereotypes, how gender might relate to sense of humor, and the ethical implications of joking. As you consider these complex ideas, pay attention to the ways in which thinking about these aspects of humor raise more questions for you about your sense of humor and the laughter in your life.