Title
Unmasking and disclosure as sociological practices : contrasting modes for understanding religious and other beliefs
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Journal of Sociology
Publication Date
12-1-2012
Volume
48
Issue
4
First Page
380
Last Page
396
Keywords
Bourdieu, disclosure, Durkheim, false consciousness, Freud, James, Marx, Nietzsche, Runciman, social theorists, tertiary understanding, unmasking, Weber
Abstract
Unmasking is a recurrent feature of modern sociology and cultural criticism. While false consciousness is imputed by intellectuals to religious groups and to certain social classes, unmasking is, or claims to be, a corrective performed by intellectuals themselves. Unmasking supposes that enlightened enquirers are able to help the less rational to understand their real interests; a type of exposure, it offers a cognitive tool of emancipation. This article (a) examines unmasking; and (b) contrasts it with an approach to understanding that we call disclosure. Our claim is that disclosure is more attuned to the full keyboard of social action, and less demeaning of its players, than unmasking is. Disclosure attempts to grasp what actions are like for those who enact them. Nothing has been more often or consistently unmasked and with more venom than religion. It is the main example explored in this article.
DOI
10.1177/1440783312458225
Print ISSN
14407833
E-ISSN
17412978
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2012 Sage Publications
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Baehr, P., & Gordon, D. (2012). Unmasking and disclosure as sociological practices: Contrasting modes for understanding religious and other beliefs. Journal of Sociology, 48(4), 380-396. doi: 10.1177/1440783312458225
