Ideology and Utopia, an Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge

Excerpt from Ideology and Utopia, an Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge

The present volume combines a number of different writings of the author. Parts II-IV represent Professor Mannheim's Ideologie und Utopie (F. Cohen, Bonn, 1929 - now, SchulteBulmke, Frankfurt-am-Main); Part V consists of his article "Wissenssoziologie", originally published in Alfred Vierkandt's Handwôrterbuch der Soziologie (F. Enke, Stuttgart, 1931). Part I was especially written to introduce the present volume to the Anglo-Saxon reader.

Whereas Parts II-IV deal with the central problems of the sociology of knowledge and exemplify the method of this emerging discipline as applied to some of the most significant phases of recent and contemporary social life, the last part seeks to formulate a concise prospectus of this new scientific interest.

Stylistically the first four parts of this book will be found to differ markedly from the last. Whereas the former develop their respective themes rather fully, the latter, being originally an article for an Encyclopædia, is scarcely more than a schematic outline.

A classified bibliography is appended containing all of the works cited by Professor Mannheim in the above-mentioned article. To these items have been added some of the more significant representative contributions of American, English, French, and German thought on this subject which appeared to the translators to be relevant and suggestive.

Despite the involved language of the original, the translators have thought it worth while to adhere as closely a possible to the German text. While certain modifications have at times seemed necessary for the sake of intelligibility, strenuous efforts have been made to convey the author's meaning accurately.

Thanks are due to Professor Robert Cooley Angell, of the University of Michigan, for reading sections of Parts II and V, and to Mr. Arthur Bergholz, of the University of Chicago, who read sections 1-9 of "Ideology and Utopia".

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