An Original Investigation of the Social Functions of Satire in Classical Rome and Contemporary Nigerian Digital Media

Satire is one of the classical genres Romans claimed as distinctively their own, and its social functions, including political critique, moral censure, and communal laughter as social pressure, have been theorised extensively in classical scholarship. The emergence of Nigerian digital satire as a significant contemporary cultural form creates an opportunity for original cross-temporal investigation of satirical social function. This study develops an original investigation of the social functions of satire in classical Rome and contemporary Nigerian digital media, constituting a major contribution to both classical genre theory and contemporary African media studies. A theoretical-empirical methodology was adopted, drawing on classical satire theory (Freudenburg, Anderson) and analysis of primary satirical texts (Juvenal, Horace's Satires, Persius) alongside empirical analysis of 200 Nigerian digital satirical items from Twitter, Instagram, and political blog platforms (2020 to 2023) collected through systematic sampling. Interviews with 20 Nigerian digital satirists and 15 classical scholars provided interpretive perspectives. The Social Functions of Satire theoretical model proposed identifies five functional domains that operate across both historical contexts: power deflation (challenging elite authority through symbolic inversion), moral boundary marking (satirical enforcement of community ethical norms), communal solidarity (satirical laughter as social bonding), political safety valve (channelling political frustration into non-violent expression), and cultural identity assertion (the use of satirical conventions as markers of cultural belonging). Each function is documented through paired classical-Nigerian case analysis. The study constitutes an original theoretical contribution to satire studies.

Keywords: Roman satire, Nigerian digital media, social functions, genre theory, original investigation