The Souls of White Jokes

"This book is an example of the best the sociological imagination has to offer. Pérez advances a powerful theory, elegantly substantiated with historical and contemporary examples. I learned a lot and so will everyone who reads this book."
—Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, author of Racism without Racists "In providing the first sustained discussion of racist humor in the United States, Pérez contributes a significant critical intervention to intellectual discussions of racism."
—Simon Weaver, author of The Rhetoric of Racist Humour "Theoretically astute and historically rich, this unique study depicts the racial joke—far from being harmless and disarming—as being inseparable from the cementing of white solidarity, from the spreading of racist commonsense, and from easy disavowal of the damage being done."
—David Roediger, author of The Wages of Whiteness "It is a commonplace assumption that humor is always harmless fun and vital for our everyday well-being. In this important new book, Raúl Pérez cogently argues that this is not invariably the case, and that jokes and joking relations can be hostile, divisive, alienating and dehumanizing – or in other words, very harmful. Within a strong and well-woven theoretical framework, The Souls of White Jokes offers a major contribution to the critical sociology of ethnicity and racism as well as to the study of humor in key institutions and organizations."
—Michael Pickering, author of Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain "Pérez has written the most consequential sociological analysis of humor in the past 20 years... With the current debates over who or what is racist, Pérez has provided a guide that will provoke debates that are essential in a world of comic possibilities and comic cringes."
—Gary Alan Fine, Symbolic Interaction "Raúl Pérez has published a much needed addition to the critical study of how racist jokes do the dirty work of constructing racism and racially hierarchical environments."
—Michael J. Lorr, Ethnic and Racial Studies "Pérez has written an essential book for both the non-academic and academic audience—one that will undoubtedly serve as an important teaching tool about racial humor and the importance of understanding how racism is reproduced, even in the absence of hatred or negative feelings."
—Muna Adem, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity "I find The Souls of White Jokes an important, theoretically rich and thoroughly convincing study of the entanglements of racist humour with white supremacy. I look forward to seeing how this book will influence scholarship in the field of humour studies in years to come."
—Lucy Spoliar, The European Journal of Humour Research "In The Souls of White Jokes, Raúl Pérez provides a compelling explanation of how White racist jokes represent a real-time measurement where Americans can see or hear the continued subjugation and disenfranchisement of Non-Whites in the United States."
—Cameron D. Lippard, Social Forces "The Souls of White Jokes seeks to counter the concerns of those on the left who believe that targeting racist humor diverts attention from more important issues, such as poverty and diminishing democratic institutions, in the US. More important, Pérez provides a forceful argument to counter those who believe disparaging racial and ethnic humor merits protection as free speech. Recommended."
—J. S. Franks, CHOICE "The Souls of White Jokes is an important book that is likely to have considerable and lasting impact on scholarly approaches to race, racism, humor, and most originally, the affective and emotional pleasures related to social inequality and hierarchy."
—Giselinde Kuipers, American Journal of Sociology