Sharing a laugh: Pragmatic aspects of humor and gender in the workplace

Abstract

Humor serves a wide range of functions at work, one of which is to foster collegiality. An analysis of interactions in New Zealand workplaces showed that one of the most important functions of humor was the construction and maintenance of good relations with fellow workers. Such workplace collegiality is often constructed and maintained through extended sequences of humor. This paper examines some of the ways in which humor is used to construct collegial relations at work, with particular attention to the dimension of gender in the workplace. The analysis identifies three factors, which may contribute to the construction of gender identity in extended jointly constructed humor sequences. Firstly, the pragmatic force of contributions is relevant: a distinction between supportive as opposed to contestive humor sequences proved useful. Secondly, the discursive effect of contributions to such sequences must be considered: a distinction is made between a maximally and minimally collaborative contribution (i.e. a cohesive contribution to a single shared floor vs. an independent often more competitive contribution to the floor). Finally, the content of three examples of specifically ‘gendered’ sequences is examined in some detail, illustrating how, on occasion, gender may become the explicit focus of workplace humor.