A Sociologist Walks into a Bar (and Other Academic Challenges): Towards a Methodology of Humour

Citation

Watson C (2015) A Sociologist Walks into a Bar (and Other Academic Challenges): Towards a Methodology of Humour. Sociology, 49 (3), pp. 407-421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038513516694

Abstract
Humour and laughter have been regarded as suitable topics for research in the social sciences, but as methodological principles to be adopted in carrying out and representing the findings of research they have been neglected. Indeed, those scholars who have made use of humour – wit, satire, jokes etc. – risk being regarded as trivial and marginalised from the mainstream. Yet, in literature the idea that comedy can tell us something important about the human condition is widely recognised. This neglect of the potential of humour and laughter represents a serious omission. The purpose of this article is to make a sensible case for the place of humour as a methodology for the social sciences.

Keywords
comedy; humour; irony; laughter; perspective by incongruity; planned incongruity; qualitative research; research methodology; satire; social sciences; sociological imagination; theories of humour

Journal
Sociology: Volume 49, Issue 3

People

Professor Cate Watson

Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences