1958 to 1969 Professor of Sociology at the Universities of Hamburg, Tübingen and Konstanz
1967 to 1970 Chairman of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie
1968 to 1969 Member of the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg
1969 to 1970 Member of the German parliament for the Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) and Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin
1970 to 1974 Commissioner for External Trade (European Commission under President Franco Maria Malfatti) and Commissioner for Science (President Francois-Xavier Ortoli)
1974 to 1984 Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London
1976 to 1979 Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Legal Services (‘Benson Commission’)
1984 to 1986 Professor of Social Science, Konstanz University
1987 to 1997 Warden of St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford and later Pro-Rector
1993 Appointment as life peer named ‘Baron Dahrendorf of Clare Market’ of the City of Westminster
2005 to 2009 Research Professor at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin (WZB)