Humor as a bourgeois shibboleth? Humor and social boundaries in Schlaraffia associations, 1859–1939

Abstract Schlaraffia is the name of still existent male associations cultivating friendship, art and humour while maintaining a peculiar pseudo-medieval ritual. The first society of this name was founded in Prague in 1859. Subsequently, the idea spread throughout the world among German-speaking elites. By 1939, there were over three hundred branches on the territory of 29 present-day states. What started off as a local table society of artists transformed itself into a worldwide network of (upper) middle class elite. This paper shows how humour was instrumentalised as a social boundary, a kind of bourgeois shibboleth to distinguish the exclusive society from the lower middle class, not to say working class. Due to the social transformation of the membership, Schlaraffian humour was civilised, i.e. subdued to middle class morals. Schlaraffia hierarchised humour, defined it as the “highest form of comedy” and counterposed it against the alleged impertinence of the lower classes jest, wit, or prank. Humour as social distinction was associated with specific taste and knowledge needed to decode the (inside) jokes. Apart from being a subtle but effective social boundary, shared taste and knowledge through humour also helped cement the heterogeneous socio-professional groups that made up the bourgeoisie.