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Ways in which humour solves social problems english language essay

In every civilization we study in anthropology without exclusion, there are some societal jobs or issues that need to be resolved. One manner of highlighting and work outing these jobs is said to be ‘ joking relationships ‘ . Radcliffe-Brown describes a joking relationship as a relationship affecting two people whereby ‘ one is by usage permitted, and in some cases required, to badger or do merriment of the other, who in bend is required to take no offense. ‘[ 1 ]There are legion schools of idea when it comes to the subject of temper and jesting relationships in anthropology the cardinal one of which is structural-functionalism – an attack which most bookmans of the capable employ. As with any subject in anthropology we must besides take into history jobs that may originate with jesting relationships and the survey of them. Through looking at these issues we should be able to place the ways in which jesting relationships and temper solve societal jobs in a figure of societies.

Structural-functionalism is a construct idea to hold been established by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, an English societal anthropologist. It stemmed from functionalism, of which Malinowski is frequently recognised as the initiation male parent[ 2 ]which is the school of idea ‘ most clearly oriented to follow the causal-functional character of society. ‘[ 3 ]Functionalists aim to picture the assorted elements of a society and their relationships through an ‘ organic analogy ‘ . The organic analogy ‘ compared the different parts of a society to the variety meats of a life being. ‘[ 4 ]Two versions of functionalism are said to hold emerged between 1910 and 1930. Malinowski developed psychological functionalism and as is relevant to jesting relationships, structural-functionalism conceptualised by Radcliffe-Brown[ 5 ]. Even so, Radcliffe-Brown passionately denied being a functionalist, and made certain to distance his construct from Malinowski ‘ s as Malinowski openly advocated functionalism[ 6 ]. Malinowski ‘ s school of idea asserted that patterns in society could be correlated with their aptitude to satisfy cardinal biological demands. Radcliffe-Brown thoroughly disagreed and maintained that the indispensable constituents of anthropology were ‘ processes of human life and interaction ‘[ 7 ]. Radcliffe-Brown was engrossed ‘ in the value of societal behavior for the care and wellbeing of a web of societal dealingss he called the societal construction. ‘[ 8 ]

It is imperative that we use both a structuralist and a functionalist methodological analysis in order to to the full appreciate the intent of peculiar wonts in society and besides how they vary in their maps among the members of that society depending on the makeup of it. We have seen that functionalism seeks to analyze legion different societal constitutions in order to happen out what each contributes to the whole societal system. On the other manus, structural linguistics is a construct brought frontward by Levi-Strauss and is defined by Peacock as ‘ an attack that focused on civilization as such, clarifying the logical patterning or “ construction ” of civilization as an look of cosmopolitan propensities of the human head. ‘[ 9 ]Radcliffe-Brown conveying the two together and developing them to make structural-functionalism is the attack that is best when trying to understand the mode in which temper and joking relationships are able to foreground and work out societal jobs.

Humour is frequently seen as a subject which is to some extent insignificant[ 10 ]by bookmans and as such there is non a immense sum of ethnographic information available to us. However, despite this lack at that place has been a great trade work completed on subjects such as laughter by many extremely well-thought-of faculty members such as Sigmund Freud. Freud ‘ s survey on laughter and humor links good with Radcliffe-Brown ‘ s work on jesting relationships. Radcliffe-Brown suggests that jesting dealingss may come about in uncomfortable societal state of affairss or when people are unsure. Freud describes humor as the ‘ linking of two thoughts which are in some manner contrasted with each other. ‘[ 11 ]The thought of an uncomfortable societal state of affairs conveying about temper and a joking relationship is clearly two thoughts that are contrasted with each other. Consequently, it has been discovered ethnographically that a big figure of jesting relationships tend to happen between relationships made through matrimony e. g. mother-in-law, sister-in-law, known as an affine relationship[ 12 ]. There is a structural relationship created when the affine dealingss are introduced into person ‘ s life and this relationship has the possible to be comparatively unfriendly, owing to the unconditioned uncertainness of the relationship. This could be said to happen because matrimony necessitates a entire reshuffle of person ‘ s former mundane life which people may hold become used to e. g. peculiar traditions at times such as Christmas.

Two specific footings are used by Radcliffe-Brown when depicting how ambiguity in such relationships arises. These are ‘ social disjuncture ‘ and ‘ social concurrence ‘ . Social disjuncture is defined as a relationship which ‘ implies divergency of involvements and hence the possibility of struggle and ill will, while concurrences require the turning away of discord. ‘[ 13 ]If both of these impressions happen at the same time so the result is more frequently than non some kind of societal tenseness or job. This is exemplified by Radcliffe-Brown when he describes a typical adult male ‘ s feelings to his spouse ‘ s household. Prior to the matrimony, ‘ his married woman ‘ s household are foreigners for him as he is an foreigner for them. This constitutes a societal disjuncture which is non destroyed by the matrimony. The societal concurrence consequences from the continuation, though in altered signifier, of the married woman ‘ s relation to her household ‘ .[ 14 ].

Such societal tensenesss caused by societal concurrences and disjunctures, are normally alleviated in one of two ways which are a joking relationship, or a relationship of turning away. Joking relationships in these state of affairss can be used efficaciously to underscore and maneuver clear of the degrees of tenseness which can be produced by changing the societal constellation. Joking relationships can frequently be formed with siblings of the hubby ‘ s new married woman. Radcliffe-Brown illustrates how the temper involved is non basically pleasant or affable but more accurately, ‘ an duty for the two individuals non to come in into unfastened wrangle or struggle with each other. ‘[ 15 ]Therefore it could be argued that this joking relationship is made so that any tensenesss that have arisen owing to the structural alterations are evaded. Here, the joking relationship is successful in foregrounding and work outing societal jobs. Heald suggests that it is successful because ‘ teasing appears to deny distance and to symbolize possible intimacy ‘ .[ 16 ]The friendly ‘ banter ‘ in jesting relationships allow for the denial of any feelings of bitterness and as such it appears that they do in fact acquire along. It could be suggested here that the societal job has been highlighted and solved, as the joking relationship assuages any tenseness whilst covering up the disfavor. Although it could be said that this is n’t work outing the job as there is still implicit in unrest, it is better that a joking relationship is present utilizing temper to show the antipathy as opposed to open resentment. Conversely, a relationship of turning away is for the most portion implemented where the affine relation is of higher societal ranking or is from an older coevals such as the partner ‘ s female parent and male parent, and hence is an of import individual who necessitates more esteem. The Mehinaku, an autochthonal group from Brazil, supply a good illustration of this as a new hubby in the Mehinaku small town ‘ never touches his parents-in-law ; he does non even keep the same object at the same time. ‘[ 17 ]

Different classs of laughter are described by Gilhus which can farther assist to demo how humour and jesting relationships can work out societal jobs. She declares that there are ‘ three chief theories about why worlds laugh, normally described as the high quality theory, the incongruousness theory and the alleviation theory. ‘[ 18 ]Gilhus puts frontward that laughter is a cardinal phenomenon of human life. We use laughter as a manner of sing the universe, categorizing its signifiers and judging its values[ 19 ]. Incongruity theory is frequently described as the taking attack and is associated with of import historical figures such as Immanuel Kant and Soren Kierkegaard. The incongruity school of idea sees humour as a rejoinder to an incongruousness, an umbrella term loosely used to integrate many factors, including ambiguity as looked at antecedently. The theoretical account theoretician for high quality is Thomas Hobbes, who described how humour arises from a ‘ sudden glorification ‘ experient when we become cognizant of our dominance over other people. Other bookmans considered high quality theoreticians are Plato and Aristotle, and they besides put accent on the aggressive feelings that stimulate temper. The 3rd and concluding group as described by Gilhus, alleviation theory, is normally associated with Sigmund Freud and Herbert Spencer, who saw temper as chiefly a manner to let go of energy created by subjugation.[ 20 ]The fact that there are three types of laughter suggests that jesting relationships can assist foreground and work out jobs in a assortment of ways.

A survey about myth stating within an Amazonian folk by Overing gives us an illustration of how if the gag is told as so to expose power, so societal hierarchy is reiterated and anyone who refutes it is warned. Overing describes when sing the overly rough linguistic communication exercised by a priest-doctor so he can state a fabulous narrative to good consequence, that ‘ these words, used in the public address of the skilled priest-doctor… play an of import portion in the authority of their mythic linguistic communication. ‘[ 21 ]This underlines how humour and jesting relationships may be utile for work outing issues in society as a powerful person is allowed to utilize bad linguistic communication so the message within the myth can be put across to the remainder of the folk. Overing besides uses the illustration of the belly laugh monkey myth to give us another illustration of how jesting and humour can underscore and decide issues in a community. The belly laugh monkey myth depicts a monkey who does many highly unpredictable things. The manner in which the myth is told trades with really existent factors nevertheless still makes the hearers laugh. The construct of the fabulous narrative suggests that the monkey has a disease known as ‘ crazy laughter disease ‘ . Despite the fact that this is an exceptionally amusing myth, it besides plays a function as a existent warning to society that ‘ crazy laughter is understood to be riotous of ordinary societal dealingss. ‘[ 22 ]The thought that the priest-doctor is the lone member of society in the Amazonian folk described by Overing as being permitted to utilize such ill-mannered nomenclature Acts of the Apostless as a reminder to the community about his position and therefore arguably assists the betterment of societal coherence by repeating the hierarchy within in the society. The narrative ‘ s existent content besides serves as a finely tuned warning to the community about imposts and behavioral outlooks. Through the relation of these myths, societal jobs can be highlighted, as bing issues which may be traveling on in society are brought to visible radiation, yet in a manner so no 1 is named and therefore no 1 is offended at being singled out. Bowie describes how these myths map when told in the mode that Overing portrays because of the fact that ‘ exaggeration has a positive, self-asserting character. ‘[ 23 ]

The society ‘ s construction and relationships within it besides have a big function to play when sing temper and jesting relationships. When recognizing which is the right behavior towards other members of society, the construction can order about everything e. g. the celebrated phrase ‘ respect your seniors ‘ , is one used in most civilizations and is by and large expected usage. Nevertheless this is non ever the manner things are. This could be exemplified by grandparents and grandchildren, where it is common to detect that some kind of jesting relationship exists. Obviously this would non imply the bad linguistic communication etc which can come into drama in other jesting relationships as described by Gilhus. She says how most jesting relationships involve the usage of peculiarly violative linguistic communication and it is for this principle that they must be treated with cautiousness as they may ‘ strike to the bosom, while being really amusing ‘[ 24 ]. A joking relationship may organize between grandparents and grandchildren, is it suggested, owing to the ‘ absence of parental responsibility of subject combines with the intimacy of household ties to supply a really peculiar scene. ‘[ 25 ]This suggests that temper and jesting relationships have a dependance on the fundamental law of both household relationships and society in general. As discussed antecedently, parents are often avoided because of turning away methods and the regard you are supposed to handle them with. On the other manus a grandparent may be perceived as being on more equal land with a kid because of the absence of parental responsibility of subject as described by Palmer, and as such a joking relationship may be formed.

This theory links good with another suggestion of Radcliffe- Brown, which is that that there are two primary types of joking relationship. He describes this in ‘ Structure and Function In Primitive Society ‘ when he says ‘ In one the relation is symmetrical ; each of the two individuals annoyers or makes merriment of the other. In the other assortment the relation is asymmetrical ; A gags at the disbursal of B and B accepts the badgering good humouredly but without revenging. ‘[ 26 ]Because of this it is by and large assumed that an asymmetrical joking relationship will be found where one individual is of a higher societal standing and as such arguably due more respect, therefore in Radcliffe-Brown ‘ s theory the individual of a higher position would be individual ‘ A ‘ . On the other manus a symmetrical joking relationship is found between people of equal position. It could so be argued that temper and jesting relationships high spot and work out societal jobs through reaffirming the construction and position of society.

Aggression can besides be a ground for the formation of jesting relationship and usage of temper. An illustration of this is two tribes known as the Bozo and Dogon. These are two different kins and they are portion of a joking relationship with one another so that a friendly relationship may be formed. Radcliffe-Brown describes how said ” friendship ‘ appears in the prohibition, under supernatural countenance, against the sloughing of the blood of a member of the allied people. ‘[ 27 ]We must observe that whilst it is said to be a joking relationship, ‘ joking ‘ which really occurs is non really friendly at all and is extremely likely to affect indurate and highly unsavory words. This type of jesting relationship can be linked with Freud ‘ s doctrine that by ‘ belittling and humbling our enemy, by contemning and roasting him, we indirectly obtain the pleasance of his licking. ‘[ 28 ]Joking relationships in this sense are similar to that of jesting relationships with affine dealingss, because they highlight and work out societal jobs by dissembling echt aggression and transforming into ‘ false aggression ‘ by utilizing a joking relationship and temper.

By looking at another folk studied by Overing and Base on ballss, in this instance the Piaroa folk, we can happen yet more illustrations of a joking relationship. A critical constituent of the day-to-day lives of these people is mundane labor. This is due to the fact that they survive entirely on their ain supplies. A individual ‘ only works with those with whom one can hold an easy bantering relationship ‘[ 29 ]in order for the work to be completed efficaciously. Therefore it could be suggested that jesting relationships can foreground and work out jobs in society in yet another manner by set uping who the members of the community a individual is similar to in order to make a better and more competent working environment. This once more ties in with what Freud says about humor. He identifies humor as a construct which constructs ‘ the ability to detect similarities in unsimilarities, i. e. , to happen concealed similarities. ‘[ 30 ]This suggests that humor creates the chance to happen people you are socially compatible with through the domain of joking. Joking relationships could so be said to foreground and work out societal jobs because they allow a individual to happen out whether or non they are likely to acquire on with person through temper and joking with them.

Given that there is small ethnographic informations that is readily available and broader but similar subjects such as humor have had to be used to associate some factors together, what we can infer from this overview is that jesting relationships and temper surely have legion functions to play in society. As shown by affine relationships and the Bozo and Dogon folks, jesting relationships can be used to dissemble feelings of disfavor and make a better ambiance ‘ . Besides they can play a large function in reaffirming societal hierarchy and position as seen with the Amazonian folk and the myth stating. Equally good as this we have seen that jesting relationships can be a footing for friendly relationships, as with the Piaroa folk. It goes without stating that jesting relationships and temper play a large function in societies all over the universe and arguably is a topic that should be given a batch more attending in the survey of anthropology.

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