Originally published between 1959 and 1975 these 4 volumes are by one of the 20th Century's foremost sociologists. The ideas of power, resistance, conflict, historical change, openness, freedom and uncertainty pervade this set and make the works as relevant now as when they were originally published. In addition they: Examine the structures of power in which political process takes place. Offer a critique of historical sociologists whilst discussing the problems of the 20th Century and how to solve them. Provide a cross-over with political and philosophical perspectives as well as sociological ones.

Originally published in 1975, Ralf Dahrendorf’s Reith Lectures were an important contribution to public debate, exploring as they do the theme of the new liberty and being concerned to refashion liberalism to cope with the problems and tension of contemporary societies. The analysis covers endemic economic problems, such as growth, inflation and development, the complex nature of organizations, and the problems of political representation.

Originally published in 1968, these ten essays by one of Europe’s leading sociological theorists deal with important issues on the borderline between sociology and social philosophy and demonstrate the author’s deep insight into history and political analysis. The author maintains that the structures of power in which the political process takes place not only originate change and give it direction, but also produce the fertile conflicts that give expression to the fundamental uncertainty of human existence. Through an examination of various concepts inherent in this dynamic process – power, resistance, conflict, change, freedom, uncertainty – a coherent theory of society emerges.

Originally published in England in 1959, this book evolves a new theory of conflict in industrial society. By way of illustrating and testing this theory, the book provides detailed analyses of various social phenomena. The author carries out a full critique of Marx in the light of history and modern sociology and discusses the theories of class-conflict of James Burnham, Fritz Croner and Karl Renner.

First published in English as part of the Essays in the Theory of Society, this volume reissues the stand-alone Homo Sociologicus for which the author wrote a new introduction when it was originally published in 1973. The controversial book deals with the history, significance and limits of the category of social role and discusses the dilemma posed by homo sociologicus. The author shows that for society and sociology, socialization invariably means depersonalization, the yielding up of man’s absolute individuality and liberty to the constraint and generality of social roles. This volume includes the essay, Sociology and Human Nature, written as a postscript to Homo Sociologicus.

Originally published in 1975, Ralf Dahrendorf's Reith Lectures were an important contribution to public debate, exploring as they do the theme of the new liberty and being concerned to refashion liberalism to cope with the problems and tension of contemporary societies. The analysis covers endemic economic problems, such as growth, inflation and development, the complex nature of organizations, and the problems of political representation.

First published in English as part of the Essays in the Theory of Society, this volume reissues the stand-alone Homo Sociologicus for which the author wrote a new introduction when it was originally published in 1973. The controversial book deals with the history, significance and limits of the category of social role and discusses the dilemma posed by homo sociologicus. The author shows that for society and sociology, socialization invariably means depersonalization, the yielding up of man's absolute individuality and liberty to the constraint and generality of social roles. This volume includes the essay, Sociology and Human Nature, written as a postscript to Homo Sociologicus.

Originally published in England in 1959, this book evolves a new theory of conflict in industrial society. By way of illustrating and testing this theory, the book provides detailed analyses of various social phenomena. The author carries out a full critique of Marx in the light of history and modern sociology and discusses the theories of class-conflict of James Burnham, Fritz Croner and Karl Renner.

Originally published in 1968, these ten essays by one of Europe's leading sociological theorists deal with important issues on the borderline between sociology and social philosophy and demonstrate the author's deep insight into history and political analysis. The author maintains that the structures of power in which the political process takes place not only originate change and give it direction, but also produce the fertile conflicts that give expression to the fundamental uncertainty of human existence. Through an examination of various concepts inherent in this dynamic process - power, resistance, conflict, change, freedom, uncertainty - a coherent theory of society emerges.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 effectively ended the division of Europe into East and West, and the features of our world that have resulted bear little resemblance to those of the forty years that preceded the Wall's fall. The rise of a new Europe prompts many questions, most of which remain to be answered. What does it all mean? Where is it going to lead? Are we witnessing the conclusion of an era without seeing anything to replace an old and admittedly dismal way of life? What will a market economy do to the social texture of various countries of Central Europe? Will it not make some rich while many will become poorer than ever? How can the rule of law be brought about?

In this incisive and lucid book, Ralf Dahrendorf, one of Europe's most distinguished scholars, ponders these and other equally vexing questions. He regards what has happened in East Central Europe as a victory for neither of the social systems that once opposed each other across the Iron Curtain. Rather, he views these events as a vote for an open society over a closed society. The continuing conundrum, he argues, which will plague peoples everywhere, will be how to balance the need for economic growth with the desire for social justice while building authentic and enduring democratic institutions.

Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which includes a new introduction from the author, is a humane, skeptical, and anti-utopian work, a manifesto for a radical liberalism in which the social entitlements of citizenship are as important a condition of progress as the opportunities for choice. A fascinating study of change and geopolitics in the modern world, Reflections points the way towards a new politics for the twenty-first century. Ralf Dahrendorf, born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929, is a member of Britain's House of Lords. He was professor of sociology at Hamburg, T3bingen and Konstanz from 1957 to 1968, and in 1974 moved to Britain. He has been the director of the London School of Economics, warden of St. Antony's College, and pro vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. He is the author of numerous books, including The Modern Social Conflict and After 1989: Morals, Revolution and Civil Society.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 effectively ended the division of Europe into East and West, and the features of our world that have resulted bear little resemblance to those of the forty years that preceded the Wall's fall. The rise of a new Europe prompts many questions, most of which remain to be answered. What does it all mean? Where is it going to lead? Are we witnessing the conclusion of an era without seeing anything to replace an old and admittedly dismal way of life? What will a market economy do to the social texture of various countries of Central Europe? Will it not make some rich while many will become poorer than ever? How can the rule of law be brought about? In this incisive and lucid book, Ralf Dahrendorf, one of Europe's most distinguished scholars, ponders these and other equally vexing questions. He regards what has happened in East Central Europe as a victory for neither of the social systems that once opposed each other across the Iron Curtain. Rather, he views these events as a vote for an open society over a closed society. The continuing conundrum, he argues, which will plague peoples everywhere, will be how to balance the need for economic growth with the desire for social justice while building authentic and enduring democratic institutions. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which includes a new introduction from the author, is a humane, skeptical, and anti-utopian work, a manifesto for a radical liberalism in which the social entitlements of citizenship are as important a condition of progress as the opportunities for choice. A fascinating study of change and geopolitics in the modern world, Reflections points the way towards a new politics for the twenty-first century. Ralf Dahrendorf, born in Hamburg, Germany in 1929, is a member of Britain's House of Lords. He was professor of sociology at Hamburg, Tobingen and Konstanz from 1957 to 1968, and in 1974 moved to Britain. He has been the director of the London School of Economics, warden of St. Antony's College, and pro vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. He is the author of numerous books, including The Modern Social Conflict and After 1989: Morals, Revolution and Civil Society.

Time and Poverty in Western Welfare States is the English language adaptation of one of the most important contributions to welfare economics published in recent years. Professors Leibfried and Leisering offer a time-based (dynamic) analysis of the study of poverty, and suggest the need for a radical rethinking of conventional theoretical and policy approaches. Its methodology will make it of great interest to students and researchers in the social sciences, with particular importance for social policy and welfare economics.

'1989 was as important a date as 1945; it was a watershed.' - Lord Dahrendorf. The essays assembled in this volume are a thoughtful and lively commentary on Europe after the revolution of 1989. Must revolutions fail? Certainly, the open society has its own problems, not least that of citizens in search of meaning. The Good Society has to square the circle of prosperity, civility and liberty. Social science can help us understand what needs to be done, and intellectuals have a responsibility to initiate and accompany change. All this raises questions for Europe which extend far beyond the all too narrow confines of the European Union.

'1989 was as important a date as 1945; it was a watershed.' - Lord Dahrendorf. The essays assembled in this volume are a thoughtful and lively commentary on Europe after the revolution of 1989. Must revolutions fail? Certainly, the open society has its own problems, not least that of citizens in search of meaning. The Good Society has to square the circle of prosperity, civility and liberty. Social science can help us understand what needs to be done, and intellectuals have a responsibility to initiate and accompany change. All this raises questions for Europe which extend far beyond the all too narrow confines of the European Union.

Der vorliegende Versuch war ursprunglich Teil einer nicht zur Ver- offentlichung bestimmten Festschrift aus AnlaB des 65. Geburts- tages meines verehrten Lehrers, des Gottinger Ordinarius fur Philo- sophie Josef Konig, am 24. Februar 1958. Der Aufsatz erschien dann in zwei Teilen in den Heften 2 und 3 des 10. Jahrganges der Kolner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Dem Westdeut- schen Verlag bin ich fur die Bereitschaft zu Dank verpflichtet, einen unveranderten Abdru

Der vorliegende Versuch war ursprunglich Teil einer nicht zur Veroffent lichung bestimmten Festschrift aus Anlass des 65. Geburtstages meines verehrten Lehrers, des Gottinger Ordinarius fur Philosophie Josef Konig, am 24. Februar 1958. Der Aufsatz erschien dann in zwei Teilen in den Heften 2 und 3 des 10. Jahrganges der Kolner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie. Dem Westdeutschen Verlag bin ich fur die Bereitschaft zu Dank verpflichtet, einen unveranderten Abdruck dieser Fassung nunmehr gesondert herauszubringen. Thema und Absicht der uberlegungen zur Gestalt des homo sociologicus ist die Suche nach einer Elementarkategorie fur die eigenstandig soziologische Ana lyse der Probleme des sozialen Handeins. Wenn Durkheims "soziale Tatsachen" mehr sind als eine Fiktion, dann muss es moglich sein, diese mit der ganzen Strenge erfahrungswissenschaftlich. er Methodik zu beschreiben und in bestimmten Problemzusammenhangen zu erklaren. Fur solche Beschreibung und Erklarung nun ist nach der These des folgenden Essays die Kategorie der sozialen Rolle zentral. Diese Kategorie ist in jungerer Zeit insbesondere in der englischen Ethnologie und amerikanischen Soziologie entwickelt worden: insofern erfullt mein Essay fur einen kleinen Bereich den in Deutschland noch immer dring lichen Auftrag der Rezeption. Der Begriff der Rolle lasst indes in seiner gegen wartig international akzeptierten Auspragung noch manche Frage offen; inso fern liegt meine Absicht in seiner Verfeinenmg und Weiterfuhrung."

Der "Homo Sociologicus" ist ein Klassiker der Soziologie. Mit einem Nachwort von Heinz Abels. "Das Vergnugen, das die Lekture des schlanken Bandes noch immer bereitet, sei den Studenten gegoennt [...]." Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 19.1.2007 "Ralf Dahrendorfs vor bald einem halben Jahrhundert erschienenen 'Homo Sociologicus' ein klassikverdachtiges Buch zu nennen, ware eine Untertreibung. [...] Der schmalen Schrift ist es nicht unwesentlich zu verdanken, dass der Begriff der sozialen Rolle auch in der deutschsprachigen Soziologie heimisch hat werden koennen [...]." Neue Zurcher Zeitung, 1./2.7.2006

This is a book of passion, a combination of personal philosophy, recent sociological studies, and history to produce a sweeping answer to the German Question: why liberal democracy never took real root in modern Germany. . . . An important book, which should be read and seriously pondered by any student of contemporary Germany or of any aspect of modern German history. Peter N. Stearns in Central European History"