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The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy
A rigorous study of the social meaning and consequences of racist humor, and a damning argument for when the joke is not just a joke.
Having a "good" sense of humor generally means being able to take a joke without getting offended—laughing even at a taboo thought or at another's expense. The insinuation is that laughter eases social tension and creates solidarity in an overly politicized social world. But do the stakes change when the jokes are racist? In The Souls of White Jokes Raúl Pérez argues that we must genuinely confront this unsettling question in order to fully understand the persistence of anti-black racism and white supremacy in American society today.
W.E.B. Du Bois's prescient essay "The Souls of White Folk" was one of the first to theorize whiteness as a social and political construct based on a feeling of superiority over racialized others—a kind of racial contempt. Pérez extends this theory to the study of humor, connecting theories of racial formation to parallel ideas about humor stemming from laughter at another's misfortune. Critically synthesizing scholarship on race, humor, and emotions, he uncovers a key function of humor as a tool for producing racial alienation, dehumanization, exclusion, and even violence. Pérez tracks this use of humor from blackface minstrelsy to contemporary contexts, including police culture, politics, and far-right extremists. Rather than being harmless fun, this humor plays a central role in reinforcing and mobilizing racist ideology and power under the guise of amusement.
The Souls of White Jokes exposes this malicious side of humor, while also revealing a new facet of racism today. Though it can be comforting to imagine racism as coming from racial hatred and anger, the terrifying reality is that it is tied up in seemingly benign, even joyful, everyday interactions as well— and for racism to be eradicated we must face this truth.
Having a "good" sense of humor generally means being able to take a joke without getting offended—laughing even at a taboo thought or at another's expense. The insinuation is that laughter eases social tension and creates solidarity in an overly politicized social world. But do the stakes change when the jokes are racist? In The Souls of White Jokes Raúl Pérez argues that we must genuinely confront this unsettling question in order to fully understand the persistence of anti-black racism and white supremacy in American society today.
W.E.B. Du Bois's prescient essay "The Souls of White Folk" was one of the first to theorize whiteness as a social and political construct based on a feeling of superiority over racialized others—a kind of racial contempt. Pérez extends this theory to the study of humor, connecting theories of racial formation to parallel ideas about humor stemming from laughter at another's misfortune. Critically synthesizing scholarship on race, humor, and emotions, he uncovers a key function of humor as a tool for producing racial alienation, dehumanization, exclusion, and even violence. Pérez tracks this use of humor from blackface minstrelsy to contemporary contexts, including police culture, politics, and far-right extremists. Rather than being harmless fun, this humor plays a central role in reinforcing and mobilizing racist ideology and power under the guise of amusement.
The Souls of White Jokes exposes this malicious side of humor, while also revealing a new facet of racism today. Though it can be comforting to imagine racism as coming from racial hatred and anger, the terrifying reality is that it is tied up in seemingly benign, even joyful, everyday interactions as well— and for racism to be eradicated we must face this truth.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 29, 2022
Timely book.
Dr. Pérez wrote a very informative book about the rule of humor in maintaining the structure of racial dominance. My favorite sentence in the book is the last which emphasizes the need for “a sense of humor with a sense of justice.”
The book reads like an academic dissertation (which I truly liked).5/5.
Dr. Pérez wrote a very informative book about the rule of humor in maintaining the structure of racial dominance. My favorite sentence in the book is the last which emphasizes the need for “a sense of humor with a sense of justice.”
The book reads like an academic dissertation (which I truly liked).5/5.
March 5, 2024
Poignant and insightful. Perez first explains an overview of the Racial Power of Humor. "Racist humor has been, and continues to be, a powerful mechanism for reinforcing boundaries of inclusion, exclusion, and dehumanizaton. An amused racial contempt plays a critical role in efforst to maintain and reproduce racism and white supremacy in the current social and politiecal moment..."
His next chapter examines what racist humor does in society, looking in detail at the history of racial stereotypes, minstrel shows, and blackface. He then goes on to examine more closely the current role of violent racist humor in propping up and recruiting for the Far Right, the role of racism in fueling police violence, and the politics of racial contempt.
As others have mentioned, however, it reads like an academic dissertation. I wish he would boil the information down into 4-5 more concise essays to convey the information in a more accessible way.
His next chapter examines what racist humor does in society, looking in detail at the history of racial stereotypes, minstrel shows, and blackface. He then goes on to examine more closely the current role of violent racist humor in propping up and recruiting for the Far Right, the role of racism in fueling police violence, and the politics of racial contempt.
As others have mentioned, however, it reads like an academic dissertation. I wish he would boil the information down into 4-5 more concise essays to convey the information in a more accessible way.
January 5, 2026
This is a good introduction to how jokes are never 'just jokes', but I would have liked to see more of what the piece set out to do by having clearer-cut examples showing how micro-aggressions in the form of jokes actually fuel anti-blackness. This would be preferable over an (at times) overly bound duty to reflexivity and a vague re-issue of the same points in different forms (about police, the far-right etc.). I liked the connections to Du Bois, early comic theories, and the journey through time tracking the evolution of racist humour. It is an easy read, but unlikely to be eye-opening for most.
April 5, 2023
Insightful into how we adopt a “just jokes” mentality that could be harmful. Didn’t really enjoy this read though but cheers
February 2, 2024
Very intelligent, necessary book. The timeline on genocide, begins at contemptuous jokes
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews