Ideology and utopia

Abstract

Although Karl Mannheim and Ernst Bloch provide two contrasting analyses of the relationship between ideology and utopia, they hold in common the belief that the two concepts need to be examined together as a pair of closely related concepts. Mannheim argues that the ideological and the utopian are both forms of ‘reality‐transcendence’, and constructs an historical account of their role in the emergence of modernity. Bloch posits a ‘utopian surplus’ in ideology which carries the ‘not‐yet’ of human potential. The recent ‘post‐secular’ turn in contemporary political philosophy provides an excellent focus for considering the utility of the two approaches, and a discussion of the relationship of the two thinkers to the work of Karl Marx can help clarify the nature of their differences.