Social Uses
It is argued that gallows humor often occurs in societies whose inhabitants have limited means of expressing discontent, yet in which significant discontent is experienced. In these instances gallows humor can provide an outlet for airing subjects which people may feel is safer than open dialogue.
In her ethnography "Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday life in Brazil" (1993), anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes describes the use of gallows humor by the inhabitants of an impoverished shantytown in northeastern Brazil.
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Famous quotes containing the word social:
“Until the men of action clear out the talkers we who have social consciences are at the mercy of those who have none.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
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—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)