De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies

The De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies consolidates the cumulative contributions in theory and research on humor from 57 international scholars representing 21 different countries in the widest possible diversity of disciplines. It organizes research in a unique conceptual framework addressing two broad themes: the Essence of Humor and the Functions of Humor. Furthermore, scholars of humor have recognized that humor is not only a universal human experience, it is also inherently social, shared among people and woven into the fabric of nearly every type of interpersonal relationship. Scholars across all academic disciplines have addressed questions about the essence and functions of humor at different levels of analysis relating to how narrowly or broadly they conceptualize the social context of humor. Accordingly, the editors have organized each broad thematic section into three subsections defined by level of analysis. The book first addresses questions about individual psychological processes, then discusses text properties, and finally moves to questions involving broader conceptualizations of the social context addressing humor and social relations, as well as humor and culture. By providing a comprehensive review of foundational work as well as new research and theoretical advancements across academic disciplines, the De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies will serve as the foremost authoritative research handbook for experienced humor scholars as well as an essential starting point for newcomers to the field, such as graduate students seeking to conduct their own research on humor. Further, by highlighting the interdisciplinary interest of new and emerging areas of research the book identifies and defines directions for future research for scholars from every discipline that contributes to our understanding of humor.

About the Author

Thomas E. Ford is a Professor of Social Psychology at Western Carolina University and a former editor-in-chief of HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. He is a co-editor of the 2021 book, Social Psychology of Humor, an integrative volume detailing advances in theory and research in the social psychological study of humor. He is a co-author of the 2018 edition of The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach, a comprehensive textbook providing a broad overview of research on the psychology of humor. Finally, he and his colleagues have developed the Prejudiced Norm Theory, an influential theory on the impact of disparaging humor on prejudice and discrimination. Władysław Chłopicki is a Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His academic interests include interdisciplinary humor research in the context of cultural studies, cognitive linguistics, linguistic pragmatics and narratology as well as translation studies. He authored numerous articles mainly related to humor studies and a Polish-language monograph humor research. He also co-edited more than a dozen monographs on humor, inter-cultural communication, communication styles and linguistics, e.g. Humorous Discourse (by Walter de Gruyter). Most recently his main focus has been on humor in the public sphere: he has led and participated in a number of related European grants (the research results of these are systematically published on the website https://humorinpublic.eu/). He is founder and co-editor of the European Journal of Humour Research and Tertium Linguistic Journal. Giselinde Kuipers is a Research Professor of Sociology at the KU Leuven in Leuven, Belgium. Her research focuses on the social shaping of cultural standards and their consequences for social inequalities and identities in the context of increasing globalization. She has published widely on humor, including the award-winning Good Humor Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke (Berlin/Boston 2006, second updated edition 2015) as well as many articles in English and Dutch. From 2012 till 2016, she served as Editor-in-Chief of HUMOR International Journal of Humor Research. Currently, Kuipers co-directs a large international research project on humor during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as a smaller project on humor in the European public sphere.