A sociology of comprehension based on critics and jocularity

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of comprehension in critical situations, by means of the observation of moments in which jocularity is the central element of criticism. Therefore, the text intersects two investigations in which humor serves as a way to put the critics in operation: 1) observations in the streets of two neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro in search of deployment of criticism through jocularity devices, which produces modulation of criticism; and 2) focus groups with students about joking posters of 2013 political manifestation in Brazil, focusing on criticism based on reducing to ridicule by irony. I analyze how the actors comprehend (or not) each other in defining the situations in which they are in and the role played in such situations by the idea of comprehension, that is, the recognition of the abstract frameworks of the other. Here, we perceive three dimensions of comprehension of situational elements based on these signs: cognitive, contextual and moral.

Keywords:
Comprehension; Critic jocularity; Effectuation; Morality