TY - JOUR
T1 - The undoing of humanism : Peter L. Berger's sociology of unmasking
AU - BAEHR, Peter
PY - 2013/8
Y1 - 2013/8
N2 - Over a long and prodigiously fertile academic career, Peter Berger's vision of sociology has consistently emphasized its debunking and unmasking properties. Such properties, Berger contends, are evidence of sociology's humanistic promise. Following a brief description of his early transition from The Precarious Vision (a sociological book addressed principally to Christians) to Invitation to Sociology (a text keyed to a mostly secular audience), Berger's idea of humanism is described. So, too, are the roles that debunking and unmasking play in its articulation. Debunking and unmasking, conflated by Berger, are then analytically distinguished, historically located, and criticized. Debunking, an American specialty, ridicules its targets but explains nothing. Unmasking, of European provenance, has pronounced anti-humanist - violent, denunciatory, coercive - tendencies, evidenced in both the French and Bolshevik Revolutions. Accordingly, any defense of unmasking that claims to uphold humanism requires major qualification. The article, as well as assessing Berger's humanism, employs it as an opportunity to think more broadly, and more critically, about the types of debunking/unmasking in modern life.
AB - Over a long and prodigiously fertile academic career, Peter Berger's vision of sociology has consistently emphasized its debunking and unmasking properties. Such properties, Berger contends, are evidence of sociology's humanistic promise. Following a brief description of his early transition from The Precarious Vision (a sociological book addressed principally to Christians) to Invitation to Sociology (a text keyed to a mostly secular audience), Berger's idea of humanism is described. So, too, are the roles that debunking and unmasking play in its articulation. Debunking and unmasking, conflated by Berger, are then analytically distinguished, historically located, and criticized. Debunking, an American specialty, ridicules its targets but explains nothing. Unmasking, of European provenance, has pronounced anti-humanist - violent, denunciatory, coercive - tendencies, evidenced in both the French and Bolshevik Revolutions. Accordingly, any defense of unmasking that claims to uphold humanism requires major qualification. The article, as well as assessing Berger's humanism, employs it as an opportunity to think more broadly, and more critically, about the types of debunking/unmasking in modern life.
KW - Bolshevism
KW - Debunking
KW - French Revolution
KW - Humanism
KW - Sociology
KW - Unmasking
UR - http://commons.ln.edu.hk/sw_master/2279
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84878958576&doi=10.1007%2fs12115-013-9673-x&partnerID=40&md5=bbf09b4370c4302e2b99f07bfd9c8d82
U2 - 10.1007/s12115-013-9673-x
DO - 10.1007/s12115-013-9673-x
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 0147-2011
VL - 50
SP - 379
EP - 390
JO - Society
JF - Society
IS - 4
ER -