ABSTRACT
This article aims to examine the consequences for the analysis of the structural logics of social work, as well as for the analysis of professional social pedagogical acting, with Plessner’s interpretation of masks serving as a theoretical background. By referring to Helmuth Plessner’s approaches on “natural artificiality” (GS IV, 383f.) and “ontological ambiguity” (GS V, 63f.), it can be assumed that masks are indispensably relevant for social interactions. Masquerades presume a participant’s distance to himself, to others and to the situation. Analogously, de-masking is meant to reduce this distance by fixing or suppressing behaviour with the help of certain contextual conditions. This interdisciplinary paper will tackle the empirical question of the constitution of agency in structurally de-masking, shameful situations.
