Ralf Dahrendorf

The Right Honourable The Lord Dahrendorf KBE FBA
Ralf Dahrendorf
Member of House of Lords
In office 15 July 1993 – 17 June 2009
Personal details
Born	1 May 1929(1929-05-01) Hamburg, Germany
Died	17 June 2009(2009-06-17) (aged 80) Cologne, Germany
Nationality	United Kingdom Germany
Political party	Liberal Democrats (UK); FDP (Germany)
Spouse(s)	Vera Dahrendorf Ellen Dahrendorf (née Ellen Joan Krug) (1980–2004) Christiane Dahrendorf (2004–2009)
Children	Nicola, Alexandra, and Daphne Dahrendorf
Alma mater	University of Hamburg London School of Economics
Profession	German Sociologist

Ralf Dahrendorf
Known for	Providing a new definition of class conflict based on authority relations
Influences	Marx, Weber

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, KBE, FBA (1 May 1929 – 17 June 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 at the Foreign Office of Germany, 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.

Early life

Born in Hamburg, Ralf Dahrendorf was the son of Lina and Gustav Dahrendorf, and brother of Frank Dahrendorf. Ralf was known for strongly supporting anti-Nazi activities.^[2] When Ralf was only a teenager, he and his father, a SPD member of the German Parliament, were arrested and sent to concentration camps for their Anti-Nazi activities during the National Socialist regime.^[3][4]

Education and career

Ralf Dahrendorf, photo taken in 1980.

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 sociology 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). From 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.

In 1974 the BBC invited him to present the annual Reith Lectures. In this series of six radio talks, entitled The New Libertyhe examined the definition of freedom.

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.^[5]

He again settled in the United Kingdom in 1986, becoming a Governor of the London School of Economics. From 1987 to 1997, he was also 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 named 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 honour 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. Between 2000 and 2006 he served as Chairman of the Judging Panel of the FIRST Award for Responsible Capitalism .^[6] He received the FIRST Responsible Capitalism lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. On 11 July 2007, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Studies.

In January 2005, he was appointed a Research Professor at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin (WZB). ^[7]

Dahrendorf held dual citizenship in the UK and Germany. After 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".^[8] 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.^[4]

Marriages and children

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

From 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.^[9][10][11]

Ralf Dahrendorf's first two marriages ended in divorce. In 2004 he married Christiane Dahrendorf, a Medical Doctor from Cologne.^[12]

Death

Dahrendorf died in Cologne, Germany, aged 80, on 17 June 2009, after suffering from cancer.^[13]

He is survived by his third wife, three daughters, and one grandchild.^[3]

Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society

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Dahrendorf’s most influential work on social inequality is Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society, which was published in 1959. This book presents his first detailed account of the problem of inequality in modern, or postcapitalist, societies^[14] Darendorf’s central argument is that neither structural functionalism nor Marxism alone provides an acceptable perspective on advanced society.^[14][15] He claims that structural functionalists pay too little attention to the realities of social conflict and that Marx defined class too narrowly and in a historically-specific context. Furthermore, he believes that traditional Marxism ignores consensus and integration in modern social structures.^[14] Dahrendorf combines elements from both of these perspectives to develop his own theory about class conflict in postcapitalist society.

Dahrendorf's Theory on Class Conflict

Dahrendorf states that capitalism has undergone major changes since Marx initially developed his theory on class conflict. This new system of capitalism, which he identifies as postcapitalism, is characterized by diverse class structure and a fluid system of power relations. Thus, it involves a much more complex system of inequality.^[14] Dahrendorf contends that postcapitalist society that has institutionalized class conflict into state and economic spheres.^[14] For example, class conflict has been habituated through unions, collective bargaining, the court system, and legislative debate. In effect, the severe class strife typical of Marx’s time is not longer relevant.

Dahrendorf believed that Marx’s theory could be updated to reflect modern society. He rejects Marx’s two class system as too simplistic and overly focused on property ownership. Due to the rise of the joint stock company, ownership does not necessarily reflect control of economic production in modern society.^[14] Instead of describing the fundamental differences of class in terms of property, Dahrendorf claims that we must “replace the possession, or nonpossesion, of effective private property by the exercise of, or exclusion from, authority as the criterion of class formation”.^[15] Thus, society can be split up into the "command class" and the "obey class" and class conflict should refer to situations of struggle between those with authority and those without.^[16]

Relationship to other Classical Theorists and Perspectives

Unlike many of the other works published by social theorists in the 1950s, Dahrendorf’s work acknowledges the same class interests that worried Marx . Like Marx, Dahrendorf agreed that conflict is still a basic fact of social life. Dahrendorf believed that class conflict could have beneficial consequences for society, such as progressive change.^[14] Dahrendorf is recognized for being one of the best departures from the structural functionalist tradition of the 1950s. Dahrendorf criticized and wanted to challenge the “false, utopian representation of societal harmony, stability, and consensus by the structural functionalist school.”^[17] Nevertheless, Dahrendorf still shares key ideas with structural functionalists, such as a general faith in the efficacy of political and economic institutions. Like Weber, Dahrendorf criticizes Marx’s view that the working class will ultimately become a homogeneous group of unskilled machine operators. Dahrendorf points out that in postcapitalist society there are elaborate distinctions regarding income, prestige, skill level, and life chances. Dahrendorf’s pluralist view of class and power structures and belief that hierarchies of authority are inevitable in modern societies also reflect Weberian ideas.^[14]

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.
• Edward G. Grabb, "Theories of Social Inequality: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives." Ontario: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997.

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 (1974) The New Liberty BBC Radio Reith Lectures
• 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.
• Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1979) Life chances: Approachesto Social and Political Theory. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-77682-7.

Works available in French

• Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1972) Classes et conflits de classes dans la société industrielle. (Introduction by Raymond Aron), Paris: Gallimard

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.

Awards and honours

• 1982: Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 1989: Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1993: Life Peer (Baron Dahrendorf)
• 1997: Theodor-Heuss-Preis
• 1999: Medal of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
• 1999: Honorary Senator of the University of Hamburg
• 2002: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• 2003: Pour le Mérite

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Dahrendorf hypothesis
• Karl Marx
• Max Weber
• structural functionalist
• Marxism

References

1. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hWRqoHd3P5j-T1A0Ii9ZrtHJFxpQ
2. ^ Grimes, William. "Ralf Dahrendorf, Sociologist, Dies at 80 ", The New York Times, 22 June 2009. Accessed 10 October 2009.
3. ^ ^{a b} Grimes, William. "Ralf Dahrendorf, Sociologist, Dies at 80 ", The New York Times, 22 June 2009. Accessed 22 June 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Lord Dahrendorf". The Daily Telegraph (London). 18 June 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/5571140/Lord-Dahrendorf.html. Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
5. ^ "Emerald: Article Requests: Indefinite articles". Emerald Group Publishing. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=9F328F753CC45ECD41DD5147379E5983?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkpdf&contentId=1702699&history=true. Retrieved 27 May 2009. 
6. ^ "The FIRST International Award for Responsible Capitalism". http://www.firstmagazine.com/Awards. 
7. ^ WZB website
8. ^ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4406145,00.html
9. ^ "A time to speak out". The Guardian (London). 5 February 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/feb/05/holdjewishvoicesstatement. Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
10. ^ http://www.jafi.org.il/education/hasbara/headlines/a4-4.html
11. ^ http://www.ijv.org.uk/
12. ^ Pick, Hella. "Lord Dahrendorf, German sociologist and politician who became director of the LSE and a life peer ", The Guardian, 19 June 2009. Accessed 10 October 2009.
13. ^ "German sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf dead". EarthTimes / DPA. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/273768,german-sociologist-ralf-dahrendorf-dead.html. Retrieved 18 June 2009. 
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Grabb, Edward G. "Theories of Social Inequality." Ontario: Harcourt Brace & Company. 1997
15. ^ ^{a b} Dahrendorf, Ralf."Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society." Stanford CA: Stanford University. 1959
16. ^ Robinson, Robert V.; Kelley, Jonathan (1979). "Class as Conceived by Marx and Dahrendorf: Effects on Income Inequality and Politics in the United States and Great Britain". American Sociological Review 44 (1): 38–58. JSTOR 2094817. 
17. ^ Grabb, Edward G. "Theories of Social Inequality." Toronto: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston of Canada. 1984

External links

• 2011 Dahrendorf Symposium - Changing the Debate on Europe – Moving Beyond Conventional Wisdoms
• 2011 Dahrendorf Symposium Blog
• Ralf Dahrendorf's syndicated monthly op/ed columns for Project Syndicate "Against the Current" was 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 at the German Foreign Office 1969–1970	Succeeded by Karl Moersch
Preceded by Hans Wolfgang Rubin	Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation 1982–1987	Succeeded by Wolfgang Mischnick

Persondata
Name	Dahrendorf, Ralf
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 May 1929
Place of birth	Hamburg, Germany
Date of death	17 June 2009
Place of death	Cologne, Germany