Humour as a Bourgeois Shibboleth? Humour and Social Boundaries in Schlaraffia Associations, 1859–1939
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F47813059%3A19240%2F25%3AA0001645" target="_blank" >RIV/47813059:19240/25:A0001645 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/humor-2024-0072/html" target="_blank" >https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/humor-2024-0072/html</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humor-2024-0072" target="_blank" >10.1515/humor-2024-0072</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Humour as a Bourgeois Shibboleth? Humour and Social Boundaries in Schlaraffia Associations, 1859–1939
Original language description
Schlaraffia is the name of still existent male associations cultivating friendship, art and humour while maintaining a peculiar pseudo-medieval ritual. The first society of this name was founded in Prague in 1859. Subsequently, the idea spread throughout the world among German-speaking elites. By 1939, there were over three hundred branches on the territory of 29 present-day states. What started off as a local table society of artists transformed itself into a worldwide network of (upper) middle class elite. This paper shows how humour was instrumentalised as a social boundary, a kind of bourgeois shibboleth to distinguish the exclusive society from the lower middle class, not to say working class. Due to the social transformation of the membership, Schlaraffian humour was civilised, i.e. subdued to middle class morals. Schlaraffia hierarchised humour, defined it as the “highest form of comedy” and counterposed it against the alleged impertinence of the lower classes jest, wit, or prank. Humour as social distinction was associated with specific taste and knowledge needed to decode the (inside) jokes. Apart from being a subtle but effective social boundary, shared taste and knowledge through humour also helped cement the heterogeneous socio-professional groups that made up the bourgeoisie.
Czech name
—
Czech description
—
Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
—
OECD FORD branch
60200 - Languages and Literature
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA23-04979S" target="_blank" >GA23-04979S: Schlaraffia: The Element of Play in Nineteenth-century Culture</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Humor. International Journal of Humour Research
ISSN
1613-3722
e-ISSN
—
Volume of the periodical
38
Issue of the periodical within the volume
2
Country of publishing house
DE - GERMANY
Number of pages
17
Pages from-to
193-209
UT code for WoS article
001467480500001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
—