Self-irony
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Self-irony, refers to a way of deploying one’s traits, role, self etc. in a self-ridiculing manner, and thereby making a point. The procedure uses the language device of irony, by concealing the real meaning of the point made, by expressing a contradictious meaning. Put in a more simple way, it refers to the practice of making fun of oneself, but in a more refined manner. By self-ridiculing oneself by the use of irony, a person can humble her/himself, but still not to the level of self-humiliation.
Theorising self-irony
Self-irony is a conception of self that is disembodied and reflexive. It is disembodied in the sense that it can be inscribed into texts, and be used as a rhetorical strategy in articles and debates. It is also situated, meaning that members of a culture may understand it, and thus it is frequently used in humour and jokes. Self-irony also depends on a reflexive approach to self-identity. In order to pursue a lifestyle of self-irony, one must be able to understand your own role in society and culture. This leads to an ability not only to criticise, but also to celebrate the destiny of being human.
Psychological features of Self-irony
As self-irony is intrinsically a feature of the self it also has certain psychological properties.
- Defense-mechanism One important aspect of self-irony is that it can be used as a psychological defense-mechanism, in the sense that it can be used as a strategy by individuals to create a reflexive distance to the individuals behavior. By doing so, the individual maneuvers him/herself to a point of action, where the individual can choose whether he or she shall take responsibility for the performed action.
- The social-psychology of self-irony The above described aspect of self-irony can also be seen as an inherently social phenomenon. The social-psychology has identified this concept as a strategy to downplay the significance of unintended violations of culturally agreed upon behavior-patterns. In this way, individuals can signal their own indifference to this violation, and by doing so, try to convince others of the insignificance of the committed violation. Others, in their turn, tend to react to this behavior by fulfilling the norm-breaking perpetrator's wishes, and "help" the individual in his/her efforts in downplaying the event. A phenomenon that has not passed unnoticed by the relevant academia, and has been conceptualized by Erving Goffman in his masterpiece The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
- The pathology of self-irony Self-irony as a defense-mechanism can be connected to a more generalized, abstract level, in connection to its self-reflexive features. From a psychological perspective, certain pathologies, which in other contexts are referred to as consequences of modernity, can be seen as disorders of self-irony. The inability to uphold a positive self-image, can under certain conditions be caused by an extreme and exaggerated form of self-irony. Self-irony in this sense shall be seen as self-reflexivity gone too far.
Self-irony and modernity
Self-irony is a phenomenon that is intrinsically intertwined with discourses of modernity. Within sociology, aspects of reflexivity have been discussed widely and may be linked to the concept of Self-irony. For example Anthony Giddens (Modernity and Self-Identity, Stanford University Press, 1991), Ulrich Beck (Risk Society - Towards a new Modernity, Sage Publications Inc, 1992:127ff) and George Herbert Mead have discussed these features within sociology. But also post-structuralist and post-modernist approaches have turned towards this phenomenon, for example Jean Baudrillard (Selected Writings, Stanford University Press, 2001). Here self-irony can be said to have profound ontological consequences, questioning the conception of a unified self in a unified reality. Henceforth self-irony denotes a fragmented but reflexive self in a fast forward (post)modernity.Self-irony and youth culture
Around the millennial shift Self-irony has permeated youth culture. Since identities have become more and more fragmented, young people often distance themselves from self. With global media and cross-culture relations self-irony becomes the only fixed position. However, this has been criticised from modernist theorists, claiming that tradition and rationality are not being disintegrated, but has only shifted on the surface.Self-irony and Academia
A self-ironic rhetoric in academic writing can be a successful approach when an author wants to enrol readers into a text. Examples where this stragegy is being used follows:
- Michel Foucault uses a bit of self-irony in the first page of his printed lecture called "L'ordre du discours" (1971) (The Order of Discourse). Here, self-irony functions as a way of describing a meta-discourse. Foucault describes the entire system of discourse by himself being a part of it, lurching into it and himself becoming a part of it.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein uses self-irony in a certain way at the end of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Here the metaphor of "climbing the ladder, only to throw it away" can be viewed as self-ironic. Also the fashion of falsifying the entire philosophical project may be regareded as self-irony par excellence.
- Erving Goffman deconstructs the whole "theatre-metaphore" on the last pages of his The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
- Jean Baudrillard uses irony, and in fact a substantive amount of self-irony, in his trilogy "The Gulf War will never take place"(Baudrillard, Jean : Selected Writings, Stanford University Press, 2001). Shifting out to a discourse of self-irony, the message, that the media content of the Gulf War is false, gets even more realistic.
Examples of Self-ironic rhetoric
- A prominent researcher may say:
- An author might propose:
- A police-officer may say:
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