Abstract

This study sought to explore normalisation and the process of socialisation in child development through the lens of comedy and the concept of being an outsider. Through a critical realist lens (Archer, 2003; Bhaskar, 2016), I have used a qualitative, retrospective analytic autoethnographic (Anderson, 2006). This generated exploratory knowledge of normalisation, socialisation, comedy, and the outsider. I used myself as the participant and analysed my data using experiential, inductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022). I found that one’s identity must be empowered within a given social environment, which for myself resulted in a discrete counter-normative identity of challenging ‘social boundaries’. This deviancy is similar to court jesters and comedians who choose what they present on stage.