Laugh so you don't cry: teachers combating isolation in schools through humour and social support

The structure of the teaching profession leaves teachers professionally and personally isolated from other adults. This article will discuss the results of an ethnography focused on the rare informal social interaction that occurs among teachers in a United States’ school, with a particular focus on the lunch hour. Specifically, this article explores the reciprocal nature of support provided within self-generated congregational spaces. This study demonstrates the positive use of humour in combating stress in the teaching profession, and how these relationships support Hochschild's (1983) theory of emotional labour.