Weyand J (2026)
Publication Type: Authored book
Publication year: 2026
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197766620
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197766620.003.0002
The sociology of knowledge in the tradition of Alfred Schütz, Peter Berger, and Thomas Luckmann and critical ideology theory following Karl Marx both emphasize the dependence of knowledge on historical and social contexts. For this reason, the answer to the question of the relationship between knowledge and power is central to both. The article “The Sociology of Knowledge and the Problem of Ideology” first discusses similarities and differences between critical ideological theory and the sociology of knowledge. It then discusses whether a critical concept of ideology can be formulated which does not abandon the basic insight of the sociology of knowledge that all knowledge is relative to a historical and social context, but which sticks to a critical concept of ideology. This seems a worthwhile task at a time when many find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between valid knowledge and ideological smokescreens, especially since sociological positions on knowledge quickly capitulate and must capitulate if “alternative facts” are to be understood as other than a product of a different social context.
APA:
Weyand, J. (2026). The Sociology of Knowledge and the Problem of Ideology. Oxford University Press.
MLA:
Weyand, Jan. The Sociology of Knowledge and the Problem of Ideology. Oxford University Press, 2026.
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