The overall project of Ideology and Utopia is the development of the sociology of knowledge and Mannheim stresses two principles. First, it deals not with individuals but with styles of thought characteristic of particular groups in specific historical circumstance. Mannheim goes so far as to say that ‘strictly speaking it is incorrect to say that the single individual thinks. Rather ... he participates in thinking further what other men have thought before him’ – and this in a specific situation which is, from the point of view of the individual, predetermined. Secondly, and more importantly, he makes the point that thought is not a process of contemplation but is intrinsically bound up with action; this action is collective; and its guiding principle is the will to preserve or to change existing conditions. Levitas, The Concept of Utopia, p.93