Social Contradictions Research Articles

Legal Pluralism As an Ideology and a Reality

The concepts of legal pluralism used in jurisprudence, anthropology, and sociology are characterized by internal inconsistency and in their radical version are reasonably criticized by many scientists who solve the dilemma of monism and pluralism in favor of the former. At the same time, they are not simple populism, have a long history and are fully correlated with various facts of socio-legal reality such as the existence of international law, informal (direct-social) law in certain social groups, the complex structure of state law, the variability of law-making, law enforcement, non-governmental implementation of law, etc. This prompts us to reconsider the prevailing ideas about the content and meaning of legal pluralism, to demonstrate the possibilities of creating a consistent theory of it. The work uses various methods of scientific research, in particular, a dialectical approach to society (state) and law, a sociological approach in which legal pluralism is considered in an inextricable relationship with social pluralism. It is shown that legal pluralism is, first of all, a type of legal understanding reflecting the idea of the need to reflect in law the conflicting interests (values, ideas) of various personalities, social groups and society, as well as one of the ways to solve social contradictions enshrined in law. It is proved that legal pluralism can manifest itself both as a plurality of systems (subsystems) of law in society, and as an internal pluralism inherent in a particular system (subsystem) of law. The facts of genuine pluralism and quasi-pluralism are distinguished. The general significance of the theory of legal pluralism is seen in the confirmation of the connection of law with the ideas of freedom, justice, competition, in the possibility of consolidating in law extremely diverse models of balancing the interests of various subjects, in substantiating the fact that legal pluralism plays a positive role when it adequately reflects social pluralism as a condition for the preservation and development of society.

Juros no contexto da Educação Financeira Crítica e aprendizagem matemática: um estudo sob aspectos dos Registros de Representação Semiótica

Abstract This article aims to examine how transformations through conversion contribute to the different semiotic representation registers—mother tongue, algebraic register, numerical register, fractional register, percentage, and decimal—in the processes of teaching and learning mathematical objects. The starting point involved the design and development of activity sequences based on problem situations from the students’ reality, sparking discussions within the scope of Critical Financial Education. Data analysis was grounded in the Theory of Semiotic Representation Registers. The results reveal gaps in students’ learning when performing certain calculation procedures and in their written communication. Furthermore, the findings suggest that aligning Financial Education with Mathematics teaching creates favorable conditions for students to construct mathematical knowledge, fostering the development of critical, autonomous citizens capable of responding to social contradictions.

Financial instruments to counter the exploitation of natural resources

Currently, the financial activities of the state cover all areas of the country's economic activity, including all monetary relations between all entities producing tangible and intangible assets within the country and foreign countries, as well as interstate relations and with all international funds. The state’s implementation of financial activities is aimed at its own provision of financial resources to fulfill its most important tasks: creating a material and technical base for the education and systematic increase of the “middle stratum” of society, increasing the material and cultural standard of living of the civilian population, ensuring the economic and military security of the country, promoting the strengthening of international cooperation. The exploitation of natural resources is seen as one of the ways in which terrorist organizations control and hold territory. This issue also relates to how terrorist organizations finance themselves through criminal activities and possible links to organized crime groups. Such criminal activities include extortion, smuggling, theft, illegal mining, kidnapping for ransom, corruption and environmental crimes. Since the main sources of extremism and terrorism are unresolved, constantly growing social contradictions and intertwined with them negatively influencing social processes, phenomena or conflicts in certain spheres of public life. And addressing the issues of countering the financing of terrorism today is the most important in the modern world.

SOCIAL CONTRADICTIONS OF SMALL TERRITORIES OF THE VOLOGDA OBLAST: ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

The relevance of the study is due to the growth of the urban population, for whom the quality of the place of residence is of paramount importance. The quality and comfort of the environment determine the competitiveness of municipalities, their sustainable development. However, small territories of Russia are characterized by the presence of pronounced social contradictions, negative processes that hinder their development. The purpose of the research stage is to create an express methodology for assessing the state of affairs in small territories in order to develop the right management strategies. The methodological component of the work is devoted to the assessment of the situation of small territories and their typologies, data on domestic assessment systems are provided. The information base of the study: official data of Rosstat, a database of indicators of municipalities, objective indicators of the Urban Environment Quality Index for 2018-2022, data on the development of small and medium-sized businesses for 2021, a sociological survey of the population of the Vologda Oblast (N = 1500; sampling error does not exceed 5%). 10 small towns of the region were selected to form the rapid assessment methodology. The Vologda Oblast municipalities with favorable and unfavorable urban environment have been identified, problem areas, including those related to demographic processes, have been identified. Objective characteristics of small towns in the region are supplemented by the opinion of citizens on the activities for their improvement and development of the urban environment. It is concluded that the indicators of the express methodology should be supplemented with studies of territories, taking into account the development of the institutional environment and the activity of local communities, the possibilities of collaboration of various actors in solving the social contradictions of small towns.

El potencial emancipador del inconsciente social: la renovación del planteamiento de Freud por Erich Fromm como vínculo entre las formas ético-políticas y psicoanalíticas de la crítica social

With his concept of the social unconscious, Erich Fromm showed that the reproduction of social ideologies depends on the suppression of specific social contradictions. Fromm’s concept represents an extension of Freud’s individual-based approach to the unconscious combined with a Marxist-influenced critique of society. In this paper, I will argue that Fromm’s concept of the social unconscious is not only an indispensable component of an emancipative social critique. Furthermore, I will argue that it is through Fromm’s concept that the productive relationship between philosophy, in the sense of an ethical-political social critique, and psychoanalysis becomes fully apparent.

Проблема взаимоотношений с народом в деятельности Императорского Православного Палестинского общества (конец XIX – начало XX в.)

The activities of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), founded in 1882, reflected important trends in the socio-political and ideological development of Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Created mostly on order to strengthen the political influence of Russia in the Holy Land, and to assist the pilgrims arriving there, the IOPS, from the point of view of its founders, had another extremely important task – to develop the contacts between the power structures and the conservative upper classes of society with the masses of the common people. Seeking to reach this goal, the IOPS launched the extensive publishing activities, established its local departments in the dioceses and organized there the so-called popular readings dedicated to the Holy Land. In the course of these activities, a number of problems emerged related to the question of the ways and mechanisms of interaction between an educated society and the masses. It was necessary to realize what subjects and forms of presentation of the material would attract the people to the greatest extent, what forms of communication should be used, how much the consciousness of the intelligentsia differs from the system of ideas of the social lower classes. The solution of these issues was supposed to help strengthen the religious foundations of people's self-consciousness in the period of growing socio-political turbulence. The conservative leaders of IOPS also believed that developing of the above-mentioned activities would give them the opportunity to comprehend the peculiarities of the common people’s worldview. The beginning of the revolution in 1905, the development of secularization tendencies and the aggravation of social contradictions did not allow the IOPS to fulfill the intended program. However, its activities became an important page in the history of Russia in the pre-revolutionary period.

Проблемы становления Древнерусского государства в трудах Александра Магнуса Фромгольда фон Рейца

The article notes the main points of the biography of one of the key figures of Russian historical and legal science — A. M. F. Reitz, and also analyzes the work he published in 1829, called “An Experience in the History of Russian Law”. The scientist examines the process of formation of state characteristics in the context of the evolution of tribal institutions under the influence of a number of external and internal factors (which are analyzed in this article). In particular, according to the scientist, evolution is determined by demographic processes; the growth of the population united by clan ties within the boundaries of one settlement entails the transformation of the patriarchal power of the tribe leader into the collegial power of clan elders. The scientist also points to acute social contradictions as one of the significant reasons for the emergence of the state.
 A. M. F. Reitz, developing ideas previously expressed by his predecessors Professors I. G. Neumann and I. F. G. Evers, sees not the individual power of the Grand Duke in the Old Russian state, like European monarchs, but collective suzerainty; questions the established point of view in Russian historiography about the establishment of the power of the eldest in the family in the early period of the existence of the Old Russian state.
 The scientist considers inheritance and will as the basis for the legitimate transit of power; power is retained within one clan and its transfer is regulated by rules similar to the rules of inheritance law. The scientist defined the Old Russian state by its form of government as an absolute monarchy and, following I. F. G. Evers, defined the Old Russian state by its territorial structure as a union state created through an agreement of princes, and not by a natural unification of territories. Ideas substantiated in the works of A. M. F. Reitz, found a response in the scientific creativity of the works of virtually all historians of Russian law.

Small towns in Russia as a comfortable living space: myth vs reality (based on the Vologda region)

The comfort of the urban environment is one of the key factors influencing the quality of life for the population. A particular focus is placed on examining small towns (with a population of up to 50,000 people) from the perspective of their suitability for local community living. In order to comprehensively study the issue of a comfortable urban environment in the Russian provinces, the dynamics of the urban environment quality index in a number of cities in the Vologda Region were analysed, and survey materials from local residents (n = 1400) were also utilised. It is argued that sociological diagnostics complements and reveals statistical information on problem areas in urban development, allowing for the development of a unified approach to overcoming these issues, taking into account the opinions of the residents themselves. The study concluded that over the past five years, the development of small towns in the region has shown a positive trend, with an increase in the urban environment quality index being observed. However, based on the data for 2022, only 4 out of 13 small towns (Veliky Ustyug, Kharovsk, Totma, Sokol) can be considered as having a favourable urban environment. According to statistical data, the most problematic areas of the urban environment in small areas are social and recreational infrastructure and public business infrastructure. According to the opinions of residents, the quality of medical and educational services and housing availability are also significant issues. More positively, the environmental situation is evaluated in cities (as indicated by the index indicators and local residents’ judgments), as well as the level of safety and crime rates. Despite the presence of problematic areas in the development of small towns and their lag in terms of living comfort, the overall attitude of the local community toward theirplace of residence is positive, with a willingness to take responsibility for the city’s development. The results obtained serve as a basis for the policy of preserving and developing small areas, addressing social contradictions, and establishing promising directions for creating a comfortable living environment in these areas, taking into account the opinions and participation of the local community in these processes.

ПУТИ СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЯ КУЛЬТУРНО-ДОСУГОВОЙ РАБОТЫ С КУРСАНТАМИ В УСЛОВИЯХ РОСТА СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ НАПРЯЖЕННОСТИ В ОБЩЕСТВЕ

The processes of organizational and leisure work with cadets during the period of aggravation of social contradictions in the Russian cultural society were studied. It is substantiated that the crisis in Ukraine not only completely rejected the integration processes in the world, but also determined the intensification of the hybrid information war of Western countries against Russia. The intensifying confrontation with the West during the military operation in the United States determines not only the growth of social instability in Russian society, but also calls for the need to strengthen the ideological orientation of cultural and leisure work in general and with cadets of military institutes in the kingdom. The most important component with the expected cultural and leisure work with cadets who are concerned about the ideologization of these events. In the new conditions of organizational and leisure work for cadets, one side should be aimed at opposing Western propaganda, and the other side should be focused on preserving traditional Russian cultural values, norms aimed at behavioral interaction, and the development of students' analytical creative abilities. Achieving data involves centralizing the management of this type of educational activity, tightening state control over all observed educational work with cadets, as well as integrating the management system of military institutes, as well as a system for managing cultural and leisure work.

ОТРАЖЕНИЕ СОЦИОКУЛЬТУРНОГО КОНТЕКСТА В НАРРАТИВЕ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ПОВЕСТВОВАНИЙ ВИКТОРИАНСКОЙ ЭПОХИ)

The article considers the issue of narrative sociocultural orientation as a way of translating general cultural norms and values, mechanism of social interaction organization. The author substantiates relationship between narrative texts structural-content characteristics and the corresponding sociocultural context. A method of researching a narrative text is proposed. It involves study of narration event structure and reflected value and role models in social relations organization, correspondence of the narration main plot to traditional archetypical plots and presence of the storyline narrative transformations is revealed. Empirical material of the study is the Victorian era narrative texts. Analyzing narrative forms of that time, the author reveals sociocultural changes influence on textual characteristics. Compositional and plot construction of narratives represents the Victorian era heterogeneity. The narration reflects social contradictions between conservative system of values inculcated by church and the state and search for relevant spiritual guidelines by progressively thinking individuals. Rapid growth of science and new industrial relations undermined faith in the biblical truths stability, the Victorian system of values impeccability. These sociocultural tendencies find expression in the motifs of open or veiled satirical criticism of the Victorian society hypocritical morality, assertion of human rights to boldly express their own assessment of social issues through narrative storyline event blocks inversion.

Digital Transformation in Education: social well-being and adaptation strategies (on the example of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia))

Digitalization creates a new quality of life, new opportunities and new risks for society, prerequisites for a radical transformation of social systems, new challenges and a new digital inequality. And one of the key sectors of the social sphere, which is directly influenced by the introduction of digital technologies, is the field of education. This article presents the results of a sociological study "The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and big challenges: social well-being, mobility and adaptation strategies" conducted in 2021-2023 in Yakutia. Special attention is paid to the impact of digitalization of education and the introduction of distance learning formats on the social well-being of the region's population. The study captures the main contradictions that arose during the emergency transfer of the educational process to a remote form of work, local material shows the emerging social contradictions that are formed under the influence of objective differentiation between urban and rural territories. A mass sociological survey was conducted in five socio-economic zones of Yakutia: using a complex of field work: face-to-face, online survey, and a survey involving "public correspondents". The study used a multi-stage quota sample of respondents, the sample totaled 1,320 respondents. Among the most tangible consequences of the pandemic, respondents noted an increased level of stress, psychological tension, increased time spent on social networks and on the Internet in general, an increase in financial burden and expenses. Problems related to the implementation of remote work and study, 26.8% of respondents attributed to one of the most tangible consequences of the pandemic.The majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with the state, quality and accessibility of education, about half of the respondents are more or less dissatisfied with the quality of Internet connection in their place of residence. The main determinants of the digital divide between urban and rural areas and the growth of educational inequality are the uneven material and technical equipment and the introduction of digital educational resources, as well as the availability and quality of telecommunications services.

Guest Editors’ Introduction

The emergent quest for the good life in rapidly transforming China, Laos, and Vietnam can only be understood as part of the political economy of late socialism. This special issue critically engages with the notion of the good life and its ramifications in late-socialist social life through the perspectives of people and communities living amid political economic changes. In this introduction, we weave together the volume's nine empirical contributions by conceptualizing the good life as a field of struggle in which people grapple with the contradictions of late socialism to realize their vision of a good life. We underscore four domains of action in which people articulate and act out their vision: comfort and pleasure, caring and being cared for, cosmology and nature, and freedom and autonomy. Their practices reveal how the paradoxical value frameworks of late socialism impose limits on the possibilities of living well together. Yet, they also indicate the moral agency of people circulating between seemingly incommensurable social orders.

The Conflict and Coordination Between Data Sharing and Intellectual Property Protection in the Era of Big Data

Computer technology has constantly innovated since the computer first appeared in the last century. Cloud computing, the Internet, and other technologies are increasingly important in human life. Relying on the combination of computers and the Internet, the scale of data is increasing rapidly, the speed of data exchange is gradually accelerating, and the traditional information exchange mode is broken. The information exchange mode based on extensive data exchange has steadily become the mainstream, and the era of big data has come. Due to the changes brought about by new technologies, the original intellectual property law can no longer cope with new problems. How to solve the conflict between data exchange and intellectual property protection in the era of big data has become a vital issue. This paper focuses on the analysis of the connotation of data exchange in the age of big data, the conflict with intellectual property rights, and how to coordinate the contradiction between the two; it explains the conflict of property rights and personal rights brought about by extensive data exchange, and blends the scale, content, and technology of intellectual property rights in extensive data exchange. This paper aims to discuss the boundary of extensive data exchange and intellectual property protection, balance social interests, alleviate social contradictions, and provide feasible ideas for renewing intellectual property rights.

Русская православная церковь и практика духовного воздействия на преступников в условиях Югорского Севера в конце XVI – начале XX в.

The aim of the research is to characterize the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in the penal institutions of the Yugra North region and the role of local priests in preventing crimes from the late 16th to the early 20th century. The first area of this activity was the work with prisoners, as the North region of Western Siberia was the place for exiling of both state and criminal offenders. The second area was the work with indigenous people, as the missionary work was not aimed only at christening but also at preventing religious crimes (return to paganism, shamanism, non-attendance of the church, etc.). The article identifies the stages and specific features of this church activity, which were influenced by the arctic climate and the nomadic lifestyle of the indigenous population. The research also examines the impact of the Russian criminal legislation and the Penitentiary Reform of 1879, which aimed to humanize the conditions of imprisonment, on the church’s policies in Yugra. The novelty of this study lies in the absence of previous publications on this topic and the use of a new approach to analyze the archived materials: the author utilizes statistical data from the State Archive of the Tyumen Region in Tobolsk to understand the ROC’s position on religious crimes committed by the indigenous peoples of the North. The research concludes that the ROC’s activities in the penitentiary field underwent significant changes during the late 19th and the early 20th century. Providing spiritual assistance to convicts for their reformation became a regular occurrence, while religious crimes committed by the indigenous peoples of the North remained unpunished. This situation was influenced by the overall processes happening within the Russian Empire, including the emergence of social contradictions and imminent revolutionary events. The state had to react to these circumstances by weakening control over outdated legislation and adopting new normative acts. In these conditions, the ROC’s efforts to prevent crimes aligned not only with Russia’s penitentiary policy but also with the political course as a whole. Despite the challenges associated with living and working in the Arctic North, the priests of Yugra fulfilled state tasks. Overall, the ROC’s activities in preventing religious crimes reflected the complex socio-political processes occurring within Russian society. These contradictions ultimately led to the Revolution of 1917, and with the establishment of “scientific atheism” as part of the state ideology, the concept of “religious crime” was abolished, and spiritual activities by priests in places of confinement were prohibited.

Human dignity as the highest value in the globalized world

Today, when we talk about globalization, we see how the connection of time has broken at the intersection of two eras. Technologies of the 20th century gave birth to a new perception of life, which became more intense, brighter, more dynamic. Scientific discoveries and inventions: telephone, telegraph, gramophone record, radio, aviation, cinema – all these technical innovations changed the essence of human existence. At the same time, the 20th century contributed to the decline of moral values and human spirituality, which often led to social contradictions and conflicts. In the conditions of the global world, these transformations are influenced by various negative factors: totalitarian regimes, mass murders of people, racist and Nazi ideologies, as well as political systems built on them, human humiliation, contempt for universal values, and therefore denial of human dignity. Scientists associate this process with the destruction of the human in a person, with negative changes in the spiritual world of a person. The person himself has changed, his values have been reevaluated, but a person has no choice: he must remain a person, showing his dignity. In the modern conditions of globalization processes, the study of human dignity is a significant challenge for Ukrainian jurisprudence, since the need to protect it is embedded in one of the main principles of international law – respect for human rights. The article examines the peculiarities of the influence of today’s globalization processes on a person, his dignity and rights. The meaning of the concept of “dignity” as the highest social value of a person is revealed. An analysis of various approaches to understanding the concept of “human dignity” was carried out. The main focus is on the moral foundations of the development of the human personality, including the provision of personal dignity. The content of the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine and international normative legal acts, which ensure the right to human dignity, is disclosed. The essence of human dignity due to its value in society as an integral feature of the social state is defined. Attention is focused on the fact that the right to respect for human dignity acquires special importance in the context of the welfare state, as it is the basis of human social rights. Providing a person with a decent standard of living depends on the practical implementation of these rights.

Нова соціальна політика як шлях до відновлення людського капіталу

The article outlines the approaches and basic principles of forming a new social policy, which Ukraine should pursue in post-war reconstruction. It was determined that the primary goal of such policy should be a change in the paradigm of interaction between the government and society, which would ensure a transition to more pragmatic and effective relations between these parties, social compensation to alleviate social contradictions, as well as “depreciation” of conflicts. The authors emphasized that social protection should become less aimed at providing benefits and assistance to people experiencing poverty and more emphasis on supporting the self-help of Ukrainians. The focus is not only on delivering consumer goods but also on stimulating initiative and self-sufficiency skills. The article outlines the goals and tasks of the new social policy, which consist of restoring public trust in the state, comprehensive transformation of approaches to wages, taxes and social insurance, promotion of adequate employment, ensuring real efficiency of social expenditures, unification of efforts of society, business, and government. The new social policy’s principles should be determined: humanism and social justice, systematicity and comprehensiveness, preventive measures, targeting, adaptability, and multi-subjectivity. The authors suggested mechanisms for implementing the new social policy, among which a special place is taken by a social dialogue based on a four-way (employees, employers, state, local self-government bodies) and four-level (national, branch, territorial and local) model. Corporate social responsibility is defined as a means of deepening social dialogue and the need for its implementation in the form of a national policy model and its normative consolidation, as well as strengthening the joint efforts of business, the state, and civil society organizations to implement such a model, is emphasized.

Проблема разработки теории бюрократии: случай России

The article raises the problem of using transformations in Russia over the past three hundred years as a material for creating a theory of bureaucracy that differs from Weber's concept. This problem is solved on the basis of the application of concepts developed at the Rostov School of Political Sciences of the Southern Federal University (Russia). A conceptual apparatus is being developed that allows studying Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet bureaucracy in connection with the process of forming an opposition in Russia, which is free from stereotypes of bureaucratic activity, behavior and thinking. Such an opposition could not arise either in monarchical, Soviet, or post-Soviet Russia. The reasons are explained in the theory of bureaucracy, which contains a reconstruction of Marx's definition of bureaucracy as a social parasite organism, a reflection of many social contradictions and the embodiment of political alienation. The cognitive situation in modern Russia is discussed; ways for the researcher to circumvent the choice imposed on him by the post-Soviet government, the specifics of the genesis and structure of the police society in the country.

The Generative Artificial Intelligence and the Changes in Political Economy

The study aims to explore the economic and political consequences of the introduction of generative artificial intelligence, characterized by its ability to create any type of content. Its object is the generative artificial intelligence, and the subject is about the changes it brings to economy and politics. Politico-economic approach is applied to investigate the interactions of technology with the economy and politics. It is based on the understanding that changes in technology depend on politics and economics, but at the same time they cause changes in both. The study begins with the definition of generative artificial intelligence and its differences from other types of artificial intelligence, what it can do and what its limitations are. The implications for the economy, production, exchange, distribution, consumption are then considered. The questions about the prospects, fears, social controversies it brings are also analyzed. It ends with the role of politics in the development, regulation, limitation, implication, management of generative artificial intelligence, because the social contradictions it brings might become dangerous for the society and politics. The scope of the research is global, and from this comes the main conclusion that the development of artificial intelligence is a global problem that requires global solutions.

Конвойная служба в истории пенитенциарной системы Югорского Севера в конце XVI – начале ХХ в.

The aim of the study is to characterise the process and features of formation of the convoy penitentiary guard on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra (in the late XVI – early XX century) from the historical perspective. The paper analyses the historical stages in the evolution of the convoy guard in accordance with different political regimes in Russia, the development of the institution of Siberian exile and the peculiarities of the region. The study is novel in that it is the first to identify the peculiarities of functioning of the Yugra convoy guard as an integral part of the penitentiary system based on historical sources, including archival materials. As a result of the study, it has been found that the reform of the institution of the convoy guard and its functioning in Yugra corresponded to the tasks facing the state. Up to the early XIX century, the North was considered primarily as a place of exile and imprisonment of state criminals dangerous to the supreme power, thus, the organisation of the convoy to the region proceeded from the personal orders of the Tsar and the Tobolsk governor. The 1811 reform, which had officially created the convoy guard, provided other tasks: the state was preparing for an increase in crime in the face of growing social contradictions in Russia, the expansion of the territory of the Russian Empire and other factors. The same trend was observed under the Soviet authorities, when the stages of reformation of the convoy guard preceded the repressions and the creation of the GULAG.

Sexual jokes in Nigerian stand-up comedy

Nigerian stand-up comic artists explore emerging social, religious, and political issues as materials for comic entertainment within their performance space and community of practice. One of the resources for comic performance is the recourse to sexual contents which are deployed to reduce apprehension around stereotyped norms about sex and sexuality in the Nigerian sociocultural context. Drawing on ethnographic qualitative data using social media skits, audio-visual disks and semi-structured interviews, this article examines sexual jokes as ideological texts and rhetorical devices that embody the struggle between conservatism and postmodern conceptions of sex and sexuality. It highlights the recurrent themes and creative discourses of sexual humour which stand-up comedy performers exploit as artistic tools for the engagement of gender roles, sexual myths, sexual politics and social contradictions within a vulnerable socio-political and economic context. We adopt social relief theory and incongruity theory of humour comprehension to provide a nuanced understanding of sexual jokes and the sociocultural inhibitions that surround them. The dominant themes in these jokes include male sterility, faking orgasm, commodification of sex, prostitution, rape, and the use of aphrodisiac. The results indicate that sexual jokes are circulating within the comedy performance space as forms of protest against stereotyped sexual culture. In this way, male and female comedians, working with the tools and ideology of postmodernism, help to satirise conventional sexual values and radicalise their audiences against normative construction of sex and sexuality.