Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf (born May 1, 1929) is a German-British sociologist, philosopher and politician.
He was born in Hamburg and studied philosophy, classical philology and sociology in Hamburg and London between 1947 and 1952. He became a doctor of philosophy (Dr. phil.) and has a PhD degree of the London School of Economics. He was a professor of sociology in Hamburg, Tübingen and Konstanz from 1958.
From 1969 to 1970 he was a member of the German parliament for the Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party), the German liberals, and a Secretary of State in the Foreign Office. 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 and from 1987 to 1997 Warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford at Oxford University.
Having adopted British nationality in 1988, in 1993 Dahrendorf was granted a life peerage and was created Baron Dahrendorf of Clare Market in the City of Westminster by Queen Elizabeth II.
See also