The copy quality of this is poor with lots of stray marks and some of the pages are really hard to read because of it. I was interested in the work and purchased this copy because it had an interesting looking cover and was Prime eligible, but would recommend purchasing another version.

A very honest and scholarly assessment of the problems in the modern world. It is very much about a social science but is not difficult to read. However it does not have any easy answers, just an idea about the process that could be followed.

received as promised

This was so complicated! I had to read it twice, but once I understood it, it has valuable things to say. It definitely helps one distinguish between the ideology and the utopia. I will say, he tends to be a bit repetitive toward the beginning-- it could be helpful at first, but after three paragraphs of the same information all I could think was "okay i get it...."

Everything is OK, except very small print )

EXCELLENT

Kessenger's travesty of an edition, thankfully, no longer appears among the list of currently available Amazon offerings. I leave my review in place, however, in case the thing should attempt to come back to life. I have moved a few brief remarks (somewhat amplified) on the substance of Mannheim's ideas from the last paragraph to the following paragraph in celebration of the Kessenger edition's falling off the earth--or, at least out of Amazon.

Today, the term 'Utopian' is achieving a new currency--this time as an element in the conservative characterization of left wing political ideas. Such reappearance of the concept of 'utopia' within the contemporary ideological contest makes it very timely to visit (or revisit) Mannheim's classic work of critique and analysis in which the originality of the author's contribution consists precisely in his juxtaposing the idea of 'utopian' to 'ideological' rather than, as is usual, to 'realistic' [or to 'realizable']. One of Mannheim's central points is that one's sense of what is and is not, realizable in the world has more to do with the nature of his own socially structured thinking than with the limits imposed upon mankind by what is timelessly and objectively possible. Mannheim does not doubt that such limits exist, but he suggests the word: 'utopian', when employed as an epithet, can reveal more about the speaker's position in life and political orientation than it does about the opponent's loss of a practable sense of reality. Another of Mannheim's points is that utopian thought, which he defines as thinking that transcends the bounds of the existing order, seemingly is, to humanity's loss, actually disappearing. This disappearance ushers in a world that no longer, even in part, orients itself toward possibilities of transcendence to a higher historical and sociological stage.

Mannheim's sense of the loss of utopian aspirations harmonizes compatibly with Critical Theorist Herbert Marcuse's notion of the squelching of dialectical oppositions in the contemporary social universe as leading to mankind's existence being confined to a single dimension--cf that author's One Dimensional Man.

[BELOW IS A RETURN TO THE REVIEW OF THE APPARENTLY NOW-DEFUNCT KESSINGER EDITION]
The publishers of the Kessenger edition are arrant idiots. The book, in its authentic form, is a landmark collection of essays by Karl Mannheim which was first published in German under the title "Ideologie und Utopie." Kessinger Publishing, LLC has mis-titled this volume by inserting the word "An" in front of the translated words: "Ideology and Utopia." They have done this either because members of Kessinger's editorial staff do not know the real title or, more likely, because they figure that such insertion insures that their caricature will appear before any of the authentically titled versions on an Amazon search. For that reason alone this edition would deserve to be avoided--even if that left no alternative but to learn German and read the original. There are alternatives however. These range in price from dirt cheap for a used umpteenth printing to sky high for a collectible edition. Take your pick of those, I advise, but do not choose this Kessinger travesty.

The work itself (in a respectable edition) stands as a highly readable and much discussed introduction to a specialized branch of sociology known as the sociology of knowledge. The two principal exponents of this specialized study are Mannheim and Max Scheler. A search on their names will produce an intriguing list of titles available on Amazon, but "Ideology and Utopia" is the right place to begin for anyone not already familiar with the literature. (Also, worth considering is the volume: "From Karl Mannheim" which contains selections from a broad range of Mannheim's writings together with editors' and translator's introductions that set forth the development and the interpretive tradition of Mannheim's body of work.) "Ideology and Utopia" includes a twenty page preface by Louis Wirth (one of its translators) which well serves the intention of acquainting an English speaking audience with the basics of Mannheim's approach.

Today, the term 'Utopian' is achieving a new currency--this time as an element in the conservative characterization of left wing political ideas. Such reappearance of the concept of 'utopia' within the contemporary ideological contest makes it very timely to visit (or revisit) Mannheim's classic work of critique and analysis in which the originality of the author's contribution consists precisely in his juxtaposing the idea of 'utopian' to 'ideological' rather than, as is usual, to 'realistic' [or to 'realizable'].

The following quote from one of the essays in "Ideology and Utopia" suggests (but does not fully encompass) Mannheim's idea of both the limitations on human thought and the possibilities for its advancement--"Strictly speaking it is incorrect to say that the single individual thinks. Rather it is more correct to insist that he participates in thinking further what other men have thought before him."

On the bottom line: consider the author; experience the work; but avoid the edition.

Perhaps it was the translation, perhaps it is the author's inherent style, or perhaps it is just too academic but I found this very tedious. That does not stop me from endorsing the material though I reduced my rating based on the fact that this is hardly an enjoyable read and a downright unaccessable read (because of its dense, academic style) for of the vast majority of the public. Nonetheless (is that even a real word?), if one can slog through the first several chapters, Mannheim's attempt to identify the motivations and devices of knowledge and ideology create a esoteric bridge linking this achievement with Aristotle's "Metaphysics", Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", and later continued with Foucault's "The Archaeology of Knowledge". This is also an important piece when examined in the historical and geo-political context which existed in the 1920s. I would label this as "neccesary" reading for any graduate sociology student, any self-annointed philosopher, or anyone with extreme time on their hands--such as the incarcerated. (For more on that subject read the chapters by Foucault entitled "Panopticism" and "The Carceral".)