| 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 Hamburg, Germany |
| Died | 17 June 2009 (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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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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 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]
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]
| 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 |
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