Ralf Dahrendorf

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The Right Honourable  Ralf Dahrendorf  KBE
Ralf Dahrendorf
Member of the House of Lords
In office 15 July 1993 – 17 June 2009
Born	1 May 1929(1929-05-01) Hamburg, Germany
Died	17 June 2009 (aged 80) Cologne, Germany
Nationality	United Kingdom Germany
Political party	Liberal Democrats (UK); FDP (Germany)
Spouse	Vera Dahrendorf Ellen Dahrendorf (née Ellen Joan Krug) (1980-2004) Christiane Dahrendorf (2004–2009)
Alma mater	University of Hamburg London School of Economics

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, KBE, FBA (May 1, 1929 – June 17, 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician.

During his political career, he was a Member of the German Parliament, Parliamentary Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Commissioner for External Relations and Trade, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Education and Member of the British House of Lords, after he was created a life peer in 1993. He was since known in the United Kingdom as Lord Dahrendorf.

Dahrendorf was a leading expert on class divisions in modern society, and has been described as "one of the most influential thinkers of his generation"^[1].

He served as director of the London School of Economics and Warden of St Antony's College at the University of Oxford. He also served as a Professor of Sociology at a number of universities in Germany and the United Kingdom, and was most recently a Research Professor at the Berlin Social Science Research Center.

Contents 1 Life 2 Marriages and children 3 Death 4 Further reading 5 Works available in English 6 Works available in German 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Life

He was born in Hamburg, the son of Lina and Gustav Dahrendorf, an SPD member of the German Parliament. Both Ralf and his father were arrested and sent to concentration camps due to their Anti-Nazi activities during the National Socialist regime.^[2][3]

He studied philosophy, classical philology and sociology at Hamburg University between 1947 and 1952, became a doctor of philosophy and classics (PhD) in 1952. He continued his academic research at London School of Economics under Karl Popper as a Leverhulme Research Scholar in 1953-54, gaining a PhD degree in 1956. He was a professor of sociology in Hamburg (1957-60), Tübingen (1960-64) and Konstanz (1966-69).

From 1968 to 1969, he was a member of the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, and from 1969 to 1970 he was a member of the German parliament for the Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party) (the German liberals). 1969-1970 he was also a Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1970 he became a Commissioner in the European Commission in Brussels. From 1974 to 1984 he was director of the London School of Economics, when he returned to Germany to become Professor of Social Science, Konstanz University (1984-86).

From 1967 to 1970 he was Chairman of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, resigning it when he took up his office at Brussels. Between 1976 and 1979 he led the educational sub-committee of the Benson Commission.^[4]

He again settled in the United Kingdom in 1986, becoming a Governor of the London School of Economics, and also from 1987 to 1997 Warden of St Antony's College at the University of Oxford, succeeding the historian Sir Raymond Carr.

Dahrendorf was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982. He adopted British citizenship in 1988, and became known as Sir Ralf Dahrendorf, as only KBEs who are British subjects are entitled to use that title. In 1993, he was granted a life peerage and was created Baron Dahrendorf of Clare Market in the City of Westminster by the Queen. Clare Market is nearby the London School of Economics, and is also used for car parking by LSE staff. Dahrendorf chose this name to honor the School in this way, and also as a sign of his liberal humour. He sat in the House of Lords as a cross-bencher. On July 11, 2007, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Studies.

His famous book Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society (1959) argued that Marx defined class too narrowly and in a historically-specific context. Instead of describing the fundamental differences of class in terms of property, Dahrendorf claimed that power was at the root of differences in class. Thus, society could be split up into "order takers" and "order givers".^{[citation needed]}

In January 2005, he was appointed a Research Professor at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin (WZB). ^[5]

Dahrendorf held dual citizenship in the UK and Germany. Since retiring, he lived partially in Germany and partially in the United Kingdom, with a home in London and one in Bonndorf in south-western Germany. When asked which city he considered his home, he once said, "I am a Londoner".^[6] He also once said that his life was marked by a conflict between the obligation he felt to the country of his birth, Germany, and the attraction he felt for Britain^[3].

[edit] Marriages and children

He was married three times. By his first wife, Vera, a fellow student at LSE, whom he married in 1954, he had three daughters, Nicola, Alexandra and Daphne Dahrendorf. The Hon. Nicola Dahrendorf has worked for the United Nations and as the West Africa Regional Conflict Adviser to the UK Government.

1980–2004, he was married to historian and translator Ellen Dahrendorf (née Ellen Joan Krug), the daughter of Professor James Krug. When he was created a peer in 1993, his wife became known as Lady Dahrendorf. Ellen Dahrendorf, who is Jewish, has served on the board of the Jewish Institute for Policy Research, been chair of the British branch of the New Israel Fund, and is a signatory of the Independent Jewish Voices declaration, which is critical of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians^[7][8][9].

Ralf Dahrendorf married thirdly to Christiane Dahrendorf, a Medical Doctor from Cologne, in 2004.

[edit] Death

Dahrendorf died in Cologne, Germany, aged 80, on June 17, 2009, after suffering from cancer.^[10]

[edit] Further reading

• Julie Smith, Ralf Dahrendorf (Lord Dahrendorf) in Brack et al. (eds.) Dictionary of Liberal Biography; Politico's 1998 pp. 89–90.
• Julie Smith, Ralf Dahrendorf in Brack & Randall (eds.) Dictionary of Liberal Thought; Politico's 2007 pp83–85.

[edit] Works available in English

• Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1959) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1967) Society and Democracy in Germany. New York & London: W. W. Norton & Company.
• "The Modern Social Conflict". University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1988.
• Dahrendorf, Ralf (1990) Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: In a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Warsaw. New York: Random House.

[edit] Works available in German

• Die angewandte Aufklärung: Gesellschaft u. Soziologie in Amerika. Piper, München 1962.
• Homo Sociologicus: ein Versuch zur Geschichte, Bedeutung und Kritik der Kategorie der sozialen Rolle. Westdeutscher Verlag, Köln/Opladen 1965.
• Gesellschaft und Demokratie in Deutschland. Piper, München 1965.
• Konflikt und Freiheit: auf dem Weg zur Dienstklassengesellschaft. Piper, München 1972, ISBN 3-492-01782-7.
• Pfade aus Utopia: Arbeiten zur Theorie und Methode der Soziologie. Piper, München 1974, ISBN 3-492-00401-6.
• Lebenschancen: Anläufe zur sozialen und politischen Theorie. Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch, Frankfurt a.M. 1979, ISBN 3-518-37059-6.
• Die neue Freiheit: Überleben und Gerechtigkeit in einer veränderten Welt. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a.M. 1980, ISBN 3-518-37123-1.
• Die Chancen der Krise: über die Zukunft des Liberalismus. DVA, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-421-06148-3.
• Fragmente eines neuen Liberalismus. DVA, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-421-06361-3.
• Der moderne soziale Konflikt: Essay zur Politik der Freiheit. DVA, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-421-06539-X.
• Die Zukunft des Wohlfahrtsstaats. Verl. Neue Kritik, Frankfurt a.M. 1996.
• Liberale und andere: Portraits. DVA, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-421-06669-8.
• Liberal und unabhängig: Gerd Bucerius und seine Zeit. Beck, München 2000, ISBN 3-406-46474-2.
• Über Grenzen: Lebenserinnerungen. Beck, München 2002, ISBN 3-406-49338-6.
• Auf der Suche nach einer neuen Ordnung: Vorlesungen zur Politik der Freiheit im 21. Jahrhundert. Beck, München 2003, ISBN 3-406-50540-6.
• Der Wiederbeginn der Geschichte: vom Fall der Mauer zum Krieg im Irak; Reden und Aufsätze. Beck, München 2004, ISBN 3-406-51879-6.
• Werner Bruns, Döring Walter (Hrsg): Der selbstbewusste Bürger. Bouvier Verlag.
• Engagierte Beobachter. Die Intellektuellen und die Versuchungen der Zeit, Wien: Passagen Verlag 2005.
• Versuchungen der Unfreiheit. Die Intellektuellen in Zeiten der Prüfung . München 2006, ISBN 3-406-54054-6.

[edit] See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Dahrendorf hypothesis

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ralf Dahrendorf's syndicated monthly op/ed columns for Project Syndicate"Against the Current" is Ralf Dahrendorf's monthly series for Project Syndicate.
• Straddling Theory with Practice - Conversation with Sir Ralf Dahrendorf by Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies; 4 April 1989
• Daily Telegraph obituary
• Biography at the Liberal Democrat History Group

Academic offices
Preceded by Walter Adams	Director of the London School of Economics 1974 – 1984	Succeeded by Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel
Preceded by Sir Raymond Carr	Warden of St Antony's College, Oxford 1987 – 1997	Succeeded by Sir Marrack Goulding
Preceded by Theodor W. Adorno	Chairman of the German Society for Sociology 1967 – 1970	Succeeded by Erwin K. Scheuch
Political offices
Preceded by Hans von der Groeben	European Commissioner for External Relations and Trade 1970 – 1972	Succeeded by Willy De Clercq
Preceded by Altiero Spinelli	European Commissioner for Research, Science and Education 1973 – 1974	Succeeded by Guido Brunner
Preceded by Gerhard Jahn	Parliamentary Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1969 – 1970	Succeeded by Karl Moersch
Preceded by Hans Wolfgang Rubin	Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation 1982 – 1987	Succeeded by Wolfgang Mischnick