In this essay I attempt to compare two different methods of analyzing works of art: the documentary method of the sociologist Karl Mannheim and the phenomenological approach of Alfred Schutz. While both Mannheim and Schutz employ the concept of style, the actual meaning of their concepts of style is so different that comparing them may at first seem like a futile undertaking. I nevertheless argue that contrasting Mannheim's and Schutz's sociological approaches, emphasizing their unique features, offers a good strategy to map the fundamental differences between them.