ABSTRACT
There is a widespread belief that the sociology of knowledge is neither sociology nor knowledge. The chapter illustrates the logical relationships that exist between ideology as an adoptive process to the dominant ideas of a given society and the framing of goals within the social structure in which the individual operates. If there exists a fair amount of agreement as to the description of ideological and counterutopian systems, this same consensus vanishes in discussions of utopian and counterideological systems. There is a manifest sense in which propaganda statements are distinguishable from ideological statements. In the former there is some recognition by the propagandist that his remarks are not the "whole truth." While utopian systems carry either an implicit or explicit criticism of the existing society, they too fashion their ideas and ideals out of materials immediately available in the environment. The history of the sociology of knowledge has been a progressive intellectual emancipation from its metaphysical inheritance.
