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Comedy and social science: towards a methodology of funny

While humour and laughter may be regarded as legitimate topics for research in the social sciences as methodological principles to be adopted in carrying out and representing the findings of research they have been neglected. Indeed, those scholars who have made use of humour - wit, satire, jokes etc – risk being regarded as trivial and marginalised from the mainstream. Yet, in literature the idea that comedy can tell us something important about the human condition is widely recognised. This neglect of the potential of humour and laughter represents a serious omission. The purpose of this paper is therefore to make a case for the place of humour as a methodology for the social sciences.