Handbook of Prejudice By Anton Pelinka, Karin Bischof, and Karin ...

that exaggeration is an important aspect of prejudice. Exaggeration, or “over-accentuation” (Tajfel 1982), characterises the nondialogic image of the polemic other. This heterostereotype is a form of caricature. Caricature is a representation based on the stylistic device of exaggeration and radical reduction of features; it is used in abstract art, comedy, satire, and political propaganda. Caricature is often used in an in-group context to highlight and air social conflicts. Jokes creating and perpetuating satirical stereotypes of certain professional groups are a universal feature of all societies. In the Middle Ages, the profession of the miller was the popular target of scorn because he was under constant suspicion of cheating when he returned flour from grinding corn. Each nation singles out within itself or among its neighbours what it considers as the most backward group, which then becomes the butt of jokes; this role is assigned to the Belgians by the French and to the Ostfriesen by the Germans. There is a long tradition of interstereotyping among the European nations, which is itself a form of communication. In border regions, jokes multiply that highlight certain characteristics of the respective out-group. German jokes about pilfering Poles are an example; they have lately developed into a prolific genre and are often told in a series of five and more, all variations on the same theme. When individuals or groups are identified with a few character traits, they are reduced to being the stock targets of jokes. Such jokes build up animosity and superiority, but not necessarily hatred. Their function is to articulate and thereby relax tension within a common social and political framework. Jokes and caricatures function as a medium of in-group criticism. The ethnologist Radcliffe Brown has described this phenomenon with the term joking culture. In a way that can be compared to carnivalesque traditions, the practices of a joking culture alleviate tension and take the steam out of conflicts, thereby contributing to the strengthening of social bonds.

This practice, however, changes its function completely whenever intentionally applied in order to escalate an intergroup conflict. The Mohammed caricatures published by the Danish newspaper Jülandposten are an example of how a joking culture can be transformed into