Humorous Discourse and Neoliberalism: A Critical Analysis of the Corporate World Based on the Television Series The Office
The Office; Humor; Neoliberal discourse; Discourse analysis; Corporate environment.
This dissertation analyzes how the television series The Office uses humorous procedures to critique discourses linked to neoliberalism, corporate dynamics, and the reproduction of cultural stereotypes in the workplace. To this end, three episodes from the first season (“Health Care”, “Pilot”, and “Diversity Day”) were examined, selected for the density with which they articulate, respectively, corporate discourses, the construction of ethos, and stereotypical representations. The study is theoretically grounded in authors such as Dominique Maingueneau, Terry Eagleton, Sírio Possenti, and Vladimir Propp, who offer tools for understanding the discursive functioning of humor, its interdiscursive origins, and its effects on interlocutors. By combining humor and social critique, The Office constitutes a significant corpus for understanding the functioning of corporate discourses and their ideologies, allowing reflection on tensions present in contemporary labor relations.