IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v31y2024i6p2601-2617.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Banter and beyond: The role of humor in addressing gendered organizational tensions and belonging within the UK Fire and Rescue Service

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Brown
  • Ruth Woodfield

Abstract

This article explores the role of humor, specifically banter, in addressing gendered organizational tensions within the UK Fire and Rescue Service during a period of modernizing change. Such tensions reflect who holds authority and who is deemed to belong, and we explore how banter is used to both contest and confirm authority associated with the formal rank system and the informal, masculinist ideal‐typical worker in this context. We discuss banter's various roles as a cohering mode of humorous workplace communication, one that can reduce tension and consolidate authority and belonging, as well as its boundary setting, testing, and crossing capacities. In terms of the latter, we ask whether banter can genuinely trouble masculinist organizational norms. We conclude that specific humorous episodes that go “beyond banter” create particular ambivalence, but their impact is significantly limited by widespread discursive acceptance of banter as a central and permissible communication mode in the Service's culture.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Brown & Ruth Woodfield, 2024. "Banter and beyond: The role of humor in addressing gendered organizational tensions and belonging within the UK Fire and Rescue Service," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 2601-2617, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:31:y:2024:i:6:p:2601-2617
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13110
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.13110?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:31:y:2024:i:6:p:2601-2617. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.