The Sociological Investigation of the Jokes Associated with the Relations among Social Groups in Iran (With Emphasis on Telegram Jokes in 2018)

The present research aimed at the sociological study of the jokes associated with the relations among different social groups in Iran, with emphasis on Telegram jokes in 2018, and attempted to answer the following questions: What messages do the jokes have about social groups from the social perspective? What feelings do these messages want to express? In order to answer these questions, we have used Kemper’s Power-Status Theory alongside investigating the existing literature on the sociology of emotions and sociology of humor. This research was conducted using quantitative-qualitative content-analysis method and the statistical population of the research was the jokes exchanged on Telegram in 2018. The results of the research on the content of the jokes indicate that the concepts of gender, ethnicity and family constitute the most significant group and intra-group issues, in which power and status confrontations are seen at most. On the other hand, jokes are used as efficient instruments for criticizing power and status inequalities in different social groups.