Mannheim, Karl (1893–1947)

Hungarian sociologist who settled in the UK in 1933. In Ideology and Utopia (1929) he argued that all knowledge, except in mathematics and physics, is ideological, a reflection of class interests and values; that there is therefore no such thing as objective knowledge or absolute truth.

Mannheim distinguished between ruling-class ideologies and those of utopian or revolutionary groups, arguing that knowledge is created by a continual power struggle between rival groups and ideas. Later works such as Man and Society (1940) analysed contemporary mass society in terms of its fragmentation and susceptibility to extremist ideas and totalitarian governments.