Wolfgang Zapf

Wolfgang Zapf (*Frankfurt am Main 25 April 1937) is a German sociologist

Zapf visited basic school and secondary school emphasizing modern languages in Frankfurt am Main. He obtained his final examination in 1957.

From 1957 to 1961 he studied sociology and economics at the universities of Frankfurt, Hamburg and Cologne. He received a scholarship from the “Cusanuswerk” and during his studies he obtained practical training in market research and industry. In Frankfurt in 1961 he finished his studies with the diploma in sociology.

From 1962 bis 1966 he worked as an assistant of Ralf Dahrendorf at the sociological department of the University of Tübingen. In 1963 he received his doctoral degree (philosophers degree, Dr. phil.) in Tübingen with a dissertation on the historical changes of the German elite („Wandlungen der deutschen Elite“) (Munich: Piper, 1965, 21966). During these years the sociological investigation of elites was a highly topical field of research and was intensively cultivated by Dahrendorf. From 1966 to 1967 Zapf was scientific assistant of Dahrendorf at the University of Constance. In 1967 he delivered his habilitation thesis „Materials for the Analysis of Social Change“ („Materialien zur Analyse des sozialen Wandels“), which was distributed as a hectograph.

In 1968 he was German Kennedy Fellow at the Harvard University. From 1968 to 1972 Zapf was regular professor for sociology at the Goethe University Frankfurt. In 1972 he accepted a chair at the University of Mannheim, where be taught sociology until 1987.

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