K. Mannheim’s model for differentiation of ideologies in reconstructing the field of U.S. politics

The article examines the dynamics of political ideologies in the United States from 2000 to the present from the perspective of K. Mannheim’s theory. Mannheim’s model emphasizes the dialectical nature of the relationship between ideologies, implying that all major ideological pictures of reality are constructed as interdependent oppositions: government versus politics, politics of rationality versus politics of volition, choice versus predetermination, stasis versus change. An important aspect of Mannheim’s approach that distinguishes it from the Marxist understanding of ideology is that it allows for the possibility of stabilization of the ideological spectrum under a liberal political regime without its collapse into a dictatorship – an inevitable development from a Marxist perspective. Two arguments can be brought forward in favor of the application of Mannheim’s model to the ideological palette of contemporary American politics. Firstly, it can give a new understanding of the political conflict in the United States from the point of view of the interconnectedness of the ideological positions, and in particular demonstrate the connections between the strengthening of the American nationalist movement with the growth of the socialist one? Secondly, this attempt allows us to evaluate the dialectical model put forward by Mannheim from the point of view of its applicability in isolation from the historical circumstances in which it developed. And based on the results of the study, it can be noted that Mannheim’s model predicts the main lines of tension – those that arise between modern American liberals and conservatives (constitutional reform versus the immutability of the constitution), moderate Republicans and radical Trumpists (conservation vs. active reform), moderate Democrats and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party (conservation of a spectrum of different views vs. unidirectional transformation). Mannheim’s model also allows us to identify quite precisely the groups that serve as the main driving force of these currents: old elites for moderate conservatives, the new bourgeoisie for liberals, intellectuals for socialists, and marginalized groups for right-wing radical currents.

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