ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on to take one such ubiquitous and utterly familiar phenomenon, namely laughter, and consider some of the ways in which ‘the fingers of society’ reach into this distinctively human activity. Laughing, along with crying, to which it is closely related, is species-specific to homo sapiens. Laughter apparently has its roots in the constitution of the human species; it is a form of behaviour which only occurs among humans and is thus one of the distinguishing characteristics. Laughter bears an obvious and intimate relationship to humour, itself a topic which has interested some of the some of the West’s most distinguished thinkers, including Plato, Hobbes, Kant, Schopenhauer, Bergson and Freud. The chapter explores the potential of some of Goffman’s writings as an analytical resource for the close sociological examination of laughter with reference to a collection of ‘wind-ups’, broadcast on a local radio station.
