„BUT IT‟S JUST A JOKE!‟: LATINO AUDIENCES‟ PRIMED REACTIONS TO LATINO COMEDIANS AND THEIR USE OF RACE-BASED HUMOR A Dissertation by AMANDA RAE MARTINEZ Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 1 December 2011 Major Subject: Communication 2 „But it‟s Just a Joke!‟: Latino Audiences‟ Primed Reactions to Latino Comedians and Their Use of Race-Based Humor Copyright 2011 Amanda Rae Martinez „BUT IT‟S JUST A JOKE!‟: LATINO AUDIENCES‟ PRIMED REACTIONS TO LATINO COMEDIANS AND THEIR USE OF RACE-BASED HUMOR A Dissertation by AMANDA RAE MARTINEZ Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Srividya Ramasubramanian Committee Members, Michael T. Stephenson Barbara F. Sharf Sarah N. Gatson 3 Head of Department, Richard L. Street Jr. December 2011 Major Subject: Communication iii ABSTRACT „But it‟s Just a Joke!‟: Latino Audiences‟ Primed Reactions to Latino Comedians and Their Use of Race-Based Humor. (December 2011) Amanda Rae Martinez, B.A., St. Mary's University; M.A., University of Houston Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Srividya Ramasubramanian Racism persists individually and institutionally in the U.S. and race-based comedy prevails in media, accepted by diverse audiences as jokes. Media priming and Social Identity Theory theoretically ground this two-part experimental study that examines Latino participants‟ judgments of in-group (Latino) and out-group (White) alleged offenders in judicial cases after being primed with race-based stereotype comedy performed by an in-group (Latino) or out-group (White) comedian. First, participants read race-based stereotype comedy segments and evaluated them on perceptions of the comedian, humor, enjoyment, and stereotypicality. Second, participants read two criminal judicial review cases for alleged offenders and provided guilt evaluations. Importantly, a distinction was made between high and low Latino identifier participants to determine whether racial identity salience might impact responses to in-group and/or out-group members in comedy and judicial contexts. iv The results reveal that the high Latino identifiers found the race-based comedy segments more stereotypical than did the low Latino identifiers. Latino participants rated the comedy higher on enjoyment when the comedian was perceived to be a Latino in-group member as opposed to a White out-group member. The high Latino identifiers rated the White alleged offender higher on guilt than the Latino alleged offender after being primed with race-based comedy. Simply projecting in-group or out-group racial identity of comedians and alleged offenders with name manipulations in the study influenced how participants responded to the comedy material, and persisted in guiding guilt judgments on alleged offenders in the judicial reviews based on participants‟ Latino identity salience. A Latino comedian‟s position as popular joke-teller in the media overrides in-group threat, despite invoking in-group stereotypes in humor. Even with greater enjoyment expressed for Latino comedians‟ performing stereotypical race-based material, the tendency to react more harshly against perceived out-group members as a defense strategy to maintain positive in-group salience remained in real-world judgments on alleged offenders. Despite the claim that light-hearted comedy is meant to be laughed at and not taken seriously, jokes that disparage racial groups as homogenous, simplistic, and criminal impact subsequent responses to out-group members in a socially competitive attempt to maintain positive in-group identity, to the detriment of out-groups. v DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to all the stand-up comedians out there, and to anyone who has ever told or heard a joke. It is possible to make people laugh without degrading yourself or others. Life is so full of irony and hilarity, the inspiration for jokes is all around us… and should not rely on negative stereotypes. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express deep gratitude to my brilliant advisor, Dr. Srividya Ramasubramanian. I have learned so much from her about media effects research, methodological details, race, ethnicity, gender, domestic and international research intersections. Not only is Srivi a committed advisor and researcher, working through my countless drafts and engaging me in valuable academic conversations, she is also an outstanding professor and an avid source of encouragement and social support for minority graduate students. I know this to be true beyond my own positive experience. Texas A&M University is truly lucky to have her. Next, I would like to thank my committee members for all their guidance and support throughout my doctoral studies. Dr. Michael Stephenson served as my advisor through my coursework and comprehensive exams, and he taught me elaborate quantitative research methods in an easily understandable and fun way. His health campaigns course was absolutely eye-opening and I firmly believe teaching through entertainment can be extremely powerful, not limited to health issues. Dr. Barbara Sharf has also been a valuable mentor, helping me nurture my qualitative research side and my health communication interests. My mentorship research project on depression and treatment preferences among U.S.-born Mexican Americans has been immensely gratifying thanks to her guidance and critical insights. Dr. Sarah Gatson first sparked my interest with her popular culture sociology class and I greatly admire her uncanny ability to remember everything she reads! The books I read, the numerous other works I learned vii about in her class, and our informal conversations have significantly informed my doctoral work. Though not on my committee, I would like to acknowledge two amazing professors I had the pleasure of learning from while at Texas A&M University. Even though I knew little about rhetoric before taking his popular culture and rhetoric class, Dr. Leroy Dorsey showed me the power of persuasion through media texts such that I will never view entertainment through the same lens again, particularly pertaining to racial and gender issues. Dr. Joe Feagin‟s racism and anti-racism sociology class provided me with newfound critical approaches to the everyday occurrences I already had experience with, but had yet to pinpoint in a scholarly manner. Thanks to both of these scholars, making sense of race relations and difference in Aggieland became more manageable for me and undoubtedly influenced my current academic research interests. I would also like to thank the following professors who assisted me with data collection: Kevin Cosgriff-Hernandez, Lauren Lemley, Jill Yamasaki, Joseph Sample, Bill Pogue, Britney Hibbeler, Diana Bowen, John Dillard, Susan Osterberg, Philip Emery, Nicolas Rangel, and Brent Goff. Without their willingness to have their students complete my questionnaire for extra credit in their classes, I would not have had success reaching the number of participants I sought to complete my study. Thanks to them especially for hauling the massive stacks of hard copy surveys to their classes and returning them to me in a timely manner. I owe thanks to my professors and peers at Texas A&M University in the Department of Communication. I am truly blessed to have had opportunities to interact viii with all of the “academic superstar” professors and my fellow graduate student peers. I am especially happy to look back on the many times we bounced ideas off each other, enjoyed each others‟ company outside of our academic world on occasion, and leaned on each other for social support through the ups and downs of graduate school. I am grateful to have cultivated friendships with the following wonderful individuals in particular: Xi Cui, Anisah Kasim, Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Masha Sukovic, Kevin Cosgriff-Hernandez, Sammy Roberts Perez Stanford, and Betsy “Boots” McCann. Finally, I would like to acknowledge all my family members who have been eager to call me Dr. Martinez since I first decided to pursue a Ph.D. I realize the pride this brings to my family collectively and I am humbled to be the first “Dr.” on both sides of the family. I would like to give special thanks to my two biggest supporters, my parents, Susan and Gene Martinez. Words cannot describe my heartfelt appreciation for their unwavering support, always having 110% confidence in me; all those long phone conversations always resulted in clarity and new perspectives. Additionally, I would like to thank my “big little” brother, Christopher Martinez, for providing a long-distance source of comic relief through pictures and videos of my two beautiful little nieces, Natalie and Isabel. Last but most certainly not least, I am eternally grateful for my awesome husband, Albert Olguin, who stood by my side throughout my array of emotions on the path to completing my graduate studies. Thanks to him especially for picking up the slack in all other aspects of our lives when I could do nothing but work on my dissertation, for easing my mind with humor, and for making me a healthy breakfast ix each morning before I settled into a full day/night‟s worth of reading and writing. I couldn‟t have asked for a better life partner. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION