Humor, Gossip, and Other Possibly Invidious Forms of Communication (“Me Too”)

Communication can, roughly, take two forms. It can either be instrumental, or intended for transmitting information to ensure the organization can properly function. In addition, one may distinguish within an organization communication with a social purpose. Social communication can be positive and energizing for all, or it can be invidious. Humor tends to be seen as positive social communication, but certainly need not be. Social communication is intended—explicitly or implicitly—to start or change (end) a relationship that exists between two or more individuals inside an organization. Being able to engage in social communication, and in humor most incisively, is constitutive of what it means to be a member of a community or an organization. This research note presents a way of representing the social in social communication somewhat formalistically to help understand the dynamics that can be involved in social communication as allegiances shift. Power balances in organizations and society at large are reflected in how different players communicate, with what target in mind, and with what level of mutuality is involved.