An Inquiry on Ethnic Humor, Anomie, and Authoritarianism: How Sociological and Psychological Factors Influence Ethical Perception of Ethnic Jokes

Abstract

For over a century, jokes have been considered serious narratives indicating shared attitudes, beliefs, or conflicts that are ripped from the community’s mind. Notably, people’s ethical attitude toward ethnic jokes has been ignored in humor studies. The purpose of the current thesis is twofold: a) developing a scale for measuring people’s ethical attitude toward ethnic humor and b) exploring sociological and psychological factors that relate to ethical attitude toward ethnic humor. In brief, paper I evaluates the reliability and validity of a Persian version of the Moral Authority Scale (MAS-R), and papers II and III explore how anomie, socioeconomic status, parenting style, and authoritarianism relate to each other. These articles do not directly touch on ethnic humor, but provide background for how sociological variables interact with each other and influence personality traits. Paper IV develops a new scale for measuring ethical attitude toward ethnic humor and evaluates its reliability and validity. Article V and VI investigate how sociological and psychological variables relate to ethical attitude toward ethnic jokes. In general, the thesis shows how psycho-social factors interact and influence perception of ethnic humor. Furthermore, this sheds light on the manifestation of ethnic rivalries expressed in ethnic humor.