Description:
Comedy and Distinction provides the first ever empirical examination of British comedy taste. Drawing on a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews carried out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this book explores what types of comedy people like (and dislike), what their preferences reveal about their sense of humour, how comedy taste lubricates everyday interaction, and how issues of social class, gender, ethnicity and geographical location interact with patterns of comic taste.
Review Quotes:
"Certainly his book is a thoughtful and thought-provoking study which, though relating to popular culture, is addressed to an academic audience and I doubt that those looking for an 'easy option' will find this an 'easy read'... [the book] produces a 'highly recommended' rosette, particularly for students of sociology and cultural studies."-- Sep Meyer, ASPEN
"Overall, Comedy and distinction is a strong, well-articulated piece of research that provides important elements for contemporary debates on cultural consumption. It should be read by sociologists of culture at large, and not only by specialists of humour. Friedman highlights the importance of 'embodied cultural capital' cultural capital is not only made of educational degrees, but is inscribed in behaviours and dispositions, in abilities to enjoy various kinds of cultural objects."-- Samuel Coavoux, Lectures