Tricksters as a factor in society’s social transformation

The article analyzes the anthropogenic nature of the laughter nature in the society's social system and its impact on the transformation of the socio-cultural system. The conditionality of this phenomenon is associated with the complex structure of human needs for the preservation of the species. The author points out the vastness of the historiography of the problem concerning the nature of the laughter culture and its impact on the human world. The paper emphasizes the importance of identifying the social nature of humor and laughter, their functionality in social groups and society as a whole. The laughter nature stands out as one of the factors in the transformation of the sociocultural system. Tricksters as agents of the laughter nature are carriers of society's actual needs and perform specific social functions. The relevance of the article is related to the analysis of the trickster image in mass consciousness. The author cites materials from a regional study aimed at determining the prevailing trickster image in the consciousness of the residents of Russia's periphery.