The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy

The Souls of White Jokes is a rigorous study of the social meaning and consequences of racist humor, arguing that laughter at another's misfortune can reinforce and mobilize racist ideology and power. It exposes the malicious side of humor and reveals a new facet of racism today, tied up in seemingly benign, even joyful, everyday interactions.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 26 July 2022
Publisher: Stanford University Press

A thorough examination of the social significance and ramifications of racist humor, along with a compelling case for when the joke is not just a joke. Having a good sense of humor typically means being able to take a joke without getting offended—laughing even at a taboo thought or at another's expense. The insinuation is that laughter eases social tension and creates solidarity in an overly politicized social world. But do the stakes change when the jokes are racist? In The Souls of White Jokes, Raúl Pérez argues that we must genuinely confront this unsettling question in order to fully understand the persistence of anti-black racism and white supremacy in American society today. W.E.B. Du Bois's prescient essay The Souls of White Folk was one of the first to theorize whiteness as a social and political construct based on a feeling of superiority over racialized others—a kind of racial contempt. Pérez extends this theory to the study of humor, connecting theories of racial formation to parallel ideas about humor stemming from laughter at another's misfortune. Critically synthesizing scholarship on race, humor, and emotions, he uncovers a key function of humor as a tool for producing racial alienation, dehumanization, exclusion, and even violence. Pérez tracks this use of humor from blackface minstrelsy to contemporary contexts, including police culture, politics, and far-right extremists. Rather than being harmless fun, this humor plays a central role in reinforcing and mobilizing racist ideology and power under the guise of amusement.

The Souls of White Jokes exposes this malicious side of humor, while also revealing a new facet of racism today. Though it can be comforting to imagine racism as coming from racial hatred and anger, the terrifying reality is that it is tied up with the mundane and everyday. Pérez's book is a powerful reminder that humor is not just a form of entertainment, but a powerful tool for shaping our understanding of the world and our place in it. It is essential that we take this analysis seriously and work to create a more just and equitable society that is free from the harmful effects of racist humor.

Weight: 360g
Dimension: 151 x 227 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503632332