ABSTRACT
Karl Mannheim's appropriation of the Weberian legacy belongs to his characteristic strategy for claiming a place in sociology by striking intellectual bargains with predominant figures defining the field. Although Mannheim nominally defers to Weber's conception of politics as a sphere governed by choices no knowledge can dictate, his conception of the political involvement implicit in gaining insight into political situations shifts the meaning of the Weberian formulas he invokes. The political judgments and recommendations on the surface of purely ideological texts must be taken in that larger structural context. Not every ideology elaborates such a philosophy, and the elaborated philosophies associated with an ideology may not provide an adequate account of the underlying ideological structures. Such philosophies are ideological texts like others, and require structural analysis and sociological interpretation to be fully comprehended. Mannheim's sociological career is marked by the attempt to gain recognition for intellectual mediation as a form of innovative leadership.
