Born in 1934 in Kapkeim (East Prussia), social philosopher, his doctorate in 1962 with Th. W. Adorno with a thesis on the social doctrines of Comte and Hegel. He was assistant to Jürgen Habermas in Heidelberg and since 1970 he has until his retirement in 2002, occupied the chair of sociology at the University of Hannover. Linked from early German socialism and the labor movement, union school taught in Oberursel, and experience in the training of workers has decisively permeated his thinking. It also critically involved in the movement of 68 belongs to the generation of German thinkers of the 58, which also includes Jürgen Habermas, and independent continuation of the critical work of the Frankfurt School, among his works are sociological Fantasy and exemplary learning (1968), public Opinion and experience (1972) and the despised man (2001), the last two fruits of their labor in common with Alexander Kluge.