KARL MANNHEIM
Mikayla Trenary
Anthony Shepard
BIOGRAPHY
Born on March 27, 1893
 Grew up during the first World War and a period
of unrest and the chaos of revolutions and
counterrevolutions.
 Met Georg Lukas at the University of Budapest
 Attended University of Berlin and studied under
Georg Simmel
 Mannheim received his doctorate in philosophy
in 1918


His dissertation was entitled “The Structural
Analysis of Epistemology”
BIOGRAPHY

Due to further unrest in Hungary, and his life being
endangered he stayed in Hungary until 1920 but later
ended up at the University of Heidelberg.


He later appointed as a professor at the University of
Frankfurt in 1927 and taught sociology and
economics



It was here were he began to focus on Sociology
During this time he wrote his best known work “Ideology
and Utopia”(1929)
Hitler and Nazi party forced him out of the University
of Frankfurt and he later arrived in London and had
a teaching position at the London School of Economics
He taught for 12 years here and passed away on
January 9, 1947 due to a heart attack
INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCES

Georg Lukacs
He demonstrated the general value of the sociological
method in all fields of history
 He showed that Marx was the only one who truly
grasped Hegel’s idea of self-alienation


G.W.F Hegel


His influence made Mannheim view history as a
structure and dynamic process
Georg Simmel

Mannheim was influenced by Simmel’s use of the
distinction between objective and subjective culture,
especially in terms of how culture is transmitted to
each historical actor
INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCES

Max Weber



Karl Marx



Utilized the historic method to study behavior must be
accompanied by some explanation and understanding as to
why humans acts always seem to involve specific purposes,
motives, and values of the actors concerned
Mannheim used this approach to explain how knowledge was
spread “sociology of knowledge”
Marx directly influenced Mannheim’s utopian views
Mannheim’s view on historicism are tied to Marx’s idea that
ways of thinking are tied to ways of doing
Positivism
The positivist technique is the truest approach in sociology
Mannheim wanted his “sociology of knowledge” to be scientific,
however he was also committed to understanding the meaning
of behavior. This strayed him from the positivist view.
 He embraced a more methodological pluralism


CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The Sociology of Knowledge:
Definition- “as theory it seeks to analyze the
relationship between knowledge and existence”
 Manheim argued that ideas come from multiple
sources but concluded that the most significant
source of cultural ideas lies with social class
 Mannheim’s primary goals was to determine the link
between thought and action


In other words the way one thinks is dependent on more
than just that person, it is also dependent on the society in
which one grew up as well as the thought processes as those
that came prior
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Historicism:
 Reflects both German idealism in general, and
German historiography. (society is what it is
because of it’s history)
 The goal of a historicism researcher is to remain
value free when conducting social research and
not to introduce their predefined ideas and
categories in studies
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Ideology and Utopia:
 Mannheim is concerned with “how one actually
thinks”
 In general one’s social position impacts their behavior
and if one is in an advantageous position they will
want to maintain the status quo; if one is in a less
fortunate social position it would be in their best
interest to support social change
 Ideology is a set of ideas, doctrines, and opinions that
justifies a social structure (Mannheim used the term
ideology to characterize the ideas that support the
status quo)
 Mannheim used the word utopia to describe the
complex web of ideas that favored social change
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Ideology and Utopia:
 Two types of Ideology:
Particular ideologies involve systems of knowledge
that hide and distort the truth
 Total ideologies are systems of knowledge tied to the
social/historic place in time that one resides in

CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Utopian Mentality- described by Mannheim as a state
of mind that “is incongruous with the state of reality
within which it occurs.”

Utopian Mentality went through four stages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Orgiastic chiliasm of the Anabaptitists: lower classes of the
post medieval period gradually become aware of their own
social and political significance; but still far removed from
proletarian self-consciousness
Liberal-Humanitarian Idea: characterized by the
conception of utilizing rational thought to offset evil.
(represents the importance of the idea in human mental
development
The Conservative Idea: has no real utopian value, comes
about in reaction to the previous liberal stage of
development, maintaining the status quo, and embracing
those things found in the past
Socialist-Communist Utopia: the goal is overthrow the
existing social structure and the creation of a classless
society
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Diagnosis of Our Time:
 A collection of essays that were written in war
time, Mannheim presented a sociological analysis
 He believed that society was “taken ill” by war
and power struggles and he questioned “how do
we cure this disease”
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Planned Social Reconstruction:
 He was careful to point out that a planned society
must not suppress individuals’ criticism of society, for
complete suppression would produce far more
negative results
 A specific example of Mannheim’s planned
reconstruction of society involved the economic policy
of laissez-fare.
He did not view it as a viable alternative in the modern
world because this type of system invites chaos
 He argued that large modern societies must have economic
controls in planning
 It was now a choice between rational and irrational forms
of planning

CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Rationalism and Irrationalism:
 Mannheim argues that a society in which the rational habits
of thought are unevenly distributed is bound to unstable and
subject to chaos.
 The trick in proper rational leadership is to provide stability
while simultaneously allowing for acceptable levels of
irrational behavior

Substantial Rationality- a thought which reveals intelligent insight
into the inter-relations of events in a given situation.


Substantial Irrationality- everything else that is false or not an act of
thought at all


Example- a drive, impulses, wishes, and feelings
Functionally Rational-must be organized in such a way that they lead
to a pre-determined goal or calculable and efficient


Example- a normal thought
Example- a common soldier is someone who abides by a system where he
does not think but follows orders
Functionally Irrational- everything which breaks through and
disrupts functional ordering

Example- non-productive behavior such as committing acts of violence
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The Intelligentsia:
 Elites within the planned society framework
 Mannheim claims they are not a class, they are
ideologues. They are a classless aggregation that
are not superior to others but are more capable of
action that members of other strata cannot
 The intelligentsia can assist in the reconstruction
of society. They can help modify and create new
social policies designed to assist the rational
transformation of society.
 They also posses the unique ability to attach
themselves to the various levels of the social
strata.
CONCEPTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Sociology of Education:
 Mannheim felt strongly about the role of
education as a way of dealing with the crisis of
transformation.
 Education serves as primary role of assimilating
the next generation to the culture norms of
society
 To overcome overspecialization, Mannheim
argues that both teachers and students must
become more knowledgeable about sociology,
because only sociology offers the comprehensive
perspective of social events and issues
RELEVANCY
He is generally credited with creating a major
subfield of sociology named the “sociology of
knowledge.”
 With his work on historicism he demonstrated
how ideologies originate from many sources all of
which are products of past and present behavior.
 His ideas on ideology and utopia are really
contemporary versions of the study of social
stability and social change

RELEVANCY

The fact is, all societies, democratic or
authoritarian, utilize planned social
reconstruction; it is the primary function of
government
CRITICISMS

Mannheim’s “sociology of knowledge” was at
times inconsistent and contradictory


Believed that the sociology of knowledge could
emerge only during an historical period characterized
by social instability and lack of agreement over
worldviews. Yet, it is argued that we could find
sociology of knowledge during times of peace.
His whole view of society changed a lot due to the
world wars and unrest that he lived through.