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From Thomas Hobbes fear of the power of laughter tthe compulsory, packaged fun of the contemporary mass media, Billig takes the reader on a stimulating tour of the strange world of humour Both a significant work of scholarship and a novel contribution tthe understanding of the humourous, this is a seriously engaging book - David Inglis, University of Aberdeen This delightful book tackles the prevailing assumption that laughter and humour are inherently good In developing a critique of humour the author proposes a social theory that places humour - in the form of ridicule - as central tsocial life Billig argues that all cultures use ridicule as a disciplinary means tuphold norms of conduct and conventions of meaning Historically, theories of humour reflect wider visions of politics, morality and aesthetics For example, Bergson argued that humour contains an element of cruelty while Freud suggested that we deceive ourselves about the true nature of our laughter Billig discusses these and other theories, while using the topic of humour tthrow light on the perennial social problems of regulation, control and emancipation
