The Lesson of Mannheim's Historicism

Abstract

Although nearly half a century has elapsed since Mannheim's sociology of knowledge was first developed, the precise nature of its lesson remains ambiguous. In this essay it is argued that Mannheim's work is best understood within the context of historicism, which informed many of its most basic assumptions. Mannheim's work, thus approached, is seen to be the product of an unresolved antagonism between historicism and Marxism, the two traditions between which he was torn. Mannheim's eventual relativization of Marxism, which resulted in myriad theoretical impasses, was in fact motivated by an idealist yearning for emancipation from the material world itself. It was this `ecstatic' tendency which not only framed Mannheim's epistemology, but guided the whole of his sociology of knowledge as well. The lesson of Mannheim's historicism, then, is seen to rest in its pathos: the suffering inherent in soulful flight from the world.