A general theory of jokes whose butts are the stupid and the canny

Christie Davies

doi:10.1556/AEthn.54.2009.1.2

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Acta Ethnographica Hungarica

Volume/Issue:: Volume 54: Issue 1

A general theory of jokes whose butts are the stupid and the canny

Author:

Christie Davies

Christie Davies University of Reading Department of Sociology Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AA UK

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Pages:: 7–19

Online Publication Date:: 04 Jun 2009

Publication Date:: 01 Jun 2009

Article Category:: Journal Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/AEthn.54.2009.1.2

Keywords:: competition; ethnicity; jokes; humor; humour; ethnicity; lawyers; monopoly; periphery; socialism

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Jokes about stupidity are extremely common in most countries, as ethnic, national, regional and locality jokes, political jokes, jokes about occupations and social classes, and blonde and Essex-girl jokes. The aim of this paper is to provide a theory that will explain why such diverse groups of people should be the butts of what is essentially the same joke. It will also explain jokes that are the opposite of the stupidity jokes, the widespread jokes about the canny (clever, crafty, calculating, stingy), whether jokes about ethnic groups, regional groups, townspeople or occupations. The key explanatory variables are first, the dominance of centre over periphery whether defined in geographical, cultural, language or social class terms and second, among the powerful, the contrast between those who hold arbitrary monopoly power based on control of the state and the means of force and those who have achieved their position through legitimate competition.

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Acta Ethnographica Hungarica

Print ISSN:: 1216-9803

Online ISSN:: 1588-2586

Senior Editors

Editor-in-Chief: Ágnes FÜLEMILE
Associate editors: Fruzsina CSEH;
Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI
Review Editors: Csaba MÉSZÁROS; Katalin VARGHA

Editorial Board

Balázs BALOGH (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Elek BARTHA (University of Debrecen)
Balázs BORSOS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Miklós CSERI (Hungarian Open Air Museum, the Skanzen of Szentendre)
Lajos KEMECSI (Museum of Ethnography)
László KÓSA (Eötvös University, Budapest)
lldikó LANDGRAF (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities)
Tamás MOHAY (Eötvös University, Budapest)
László MÓD (University of Szeged)
Attila PALÁDI-KOVÁCS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and Eötvös University, Budapest)
Gábor VARGYAS (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities and University of Pécs)
Vilmos VOIGT (Eötvös University, Budapest)

Advisory Board

Marta BOTÍKOVÁ (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Daniel DRASCEK (Regensburg, Germany)
Dagnoslaw DEMSKI (Warsaw, Poland)
Ingrid SLAVEC GRADIŠNIK (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Dmitriy A. FUNK (Moscow, Russia)
Chris HANN (Halle, Germany)
Krista HARPER (Amherst, MA USA)
Anya PETERSON ROYCE (Bloomington, IN USA)
Ferenc POZSONY (Cluj, Romania)
Helena RUOTSALA (Turku, Finland)
Mary N. TAYLOR (New York, NY USA)
András ZEMPLÉNI (Paris, France)

Further credits

Translators: Elayne ANTALFFY; Zsuzsanna CSELÉNYI; Michael KANDÓ
Layout Editor: Judit MAHMOUDI-KOMOR
Cover Design: Dénes KASZTA

Manuscripts and editorial correspondence:

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: actaethnographicahungarica@gmail.com

Reviews:
Mészáros, Csaba or Vargha, Katalin review editors
Institute of Ethnology
Research Centre for the Humanities
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
H-1453 Budapest, Pf. 33
E-mail: meszaros.csaba@btk.mta.hu or vargha.katalin@btk.mta.hu

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2023
Scopus
CiteScore	0.6
CiteScore rank	Q2 (Music)
SNIP	0.369
Scimago
SJR index	0.164
SJR Q rank	Q2

Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
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Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1950
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	2
Founder	Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Founder's Address	H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó
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Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	1216-9803 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2586 (Online)