Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Why Study Jokes and Targets?
1. Mind over Matter: A General Theory of Jokes about the Stupid and the Canny
2. Blondes, Sex, and the French
3. Jewish Women and Jewish Men
4. Sex between Men: Places, Occupations, and Classes
5. The Great American Lawyer Joke Cycle
6. The Rise of the Soviet Joke and the Fall of the Soviet Union
Conclusion

References
Index

Promotional Information

Why certain groups tell jokes about other groups

About the Author

Christie Davies is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Reading, UK. He was president of the International Society for Humor Studies in 2008–2009. His previous books include Ethnic Humor around the World: A Comparative Analysis (IUP, 1990); Jokes and their Relation to Society; and The Mirth of Nations.

Reviews

"The most distinguished scholar of ethnic humour in the post-war period... has collected and organized a large body of jokes and identified and described the contradictory values or ideas they manipulate." Paul Lewis, author of Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict