Power, Boundaries, and Total Institutions: An Analysis of Supervisor- Subordinate Use of Humour

Abstract

Drawing on a ten-month ethnographic study of a UK prison this paper considers the negotiation of humour within complex power dynamics, asking the question: How is humour negotiated between supervisors and their subordinates? In exploring the day-to-day interactions and relationships between prisoner and their workshop instructors we identify three ways that humour is used between these two groups. Humour is used to ‘Remove Boundaries’, to ‘Maintain Boundaries’ or to ‘Shift Boundaries’. In Removing Boundaries, humour is used to build relationships between those in power and the subordinate, in Maintaining Boundaries humour is used to preserve professional distance, in Shifting Boundaries those in positions of power change the accepted use of humour to reinforce power. This paper contributes to an understanding of the relationship between authority and humour at the micro level where humour becomes a power strategy that acts as a boundary maker in supervisor-supervisee relationships.