Wolfgang Zapf

Wolfgang Zapf (* Frankfurt am Main 25 April 1937; † Berlin 26 April 2018) was 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.

Obviously he came in touch with modernization research which was just en vogue in the USA in the 1960s.

This was the origin of his first works on modernization theory and the edited volume „Theories of Social Change“ (Theorien des sozialen Wandels).

On the one hand it was envisioned to empirically verify such theories by a historical-comparative data collection on the development of west European societies; for this purpose, together with Peter Flora, Zapf applied for the HIWED-project (Historical Indicators of West European Democracies).

On the other hand stood the implementation of social indicators research in Germany; the origin of the latter research also lies in the USA of the 1960s.

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.

From 1967 to 1974, and 1983 to 1984 he was member of the managing board of the DGS; and from 1987 to 1990 he was president of the German Sociological Association; from 1973 to 1976 he was president of the DGS-section „Social Indicators“ (Sektion Soziale Indikatoren).

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.

From 1969 until 1970 Zapf was member oft the senate of the University of Frankfurt.

During the early 1970s in co-operation with economists from the Goethe University Frankfurt he organized the SPES project (Sozialpolitisches Entscheidungs- und Indikatorensystem, Sociopolitical Decision Making and Indicator System).

In 1972 he accepted a chair at the University of Mannheim, where be taught sociology until 1987.

From 1972 to 1977 Zapf was a member of the Steering Committee of the Center for Social Indicators of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in Washington, D.C.

Zapf is furthermore a member of the ISQLS.

From 1973 to 1975 he directed the Institute for Social Sciences of the University of Mannheim.

From 1973 until 1975 Zapf headed the planning group for social sciences at the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation).

From 1974 to 1975 and 1982 to 1983 he held the office of the dean of the Faculty for Social Sciences of the University of Mannheim.

In 1976, 1981 and 1986 he taught as a guest professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies (Vienna) (IHS).

From 1976 to 1985 he was a member of the Senate Commission for Empirical Social Research (Senatskommission für Empirische Sozialforschung der DFG).

This project in 1979 was continued by the Special Research Group 3 Microanalytic Foundations of Societal Policies, Frankfurt/Mannheim (Sonderforschungsbereichs 3 „Mikroanalytische Grundlagen der Gesellschaftspolitik“).

In 1979, 1981 and from 1985 to 1987 he hold the office of a speaker of the Special Research Group 3 Microanalytic Foundations of Societal Policies, Frankfurt/Mannheim; in 1980 and from 1982 to 1984 as vice-speaker.

Zapf also taught at several other European and American universities: in 1980 he was Visiting Professor for Comparative European Studies at Stanford University.

In 1980 he was a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

From 1987 to 1909 Zapf was co-editor of the „Zeitschrift für Soziologie“, was an advisory member of Social Indicators Research and grant evaluator of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Zapf’s main working fields are– in a chronological view of their appearance– in the domains of the sociology of elites, societal modernization and – neatly related – social change, social reporting and social indicators research.

Zapf‘s early publications deal with elite research, mainly with the long-term evolution of the German elite.

Probably related to that developed his interest in long-term trends of social change at the macro level which he thematized in his habilitation thesis.

In addition to his tasks at the WZB from 1988 to 2002 Zapf continued teaching as professor for sociology at the Free University of Berlin.

From 1993 to 1999 Zapf was president of the board of trustees of GESIS.

In September 1987 Zapf was appointed scientific manager (president) of the Wissenschaftszentrums Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB); he held this office until 31 August 1994.

At the same time he directed the „Department for Social Structure and Social Reporting“ („Abteilung Sozialstruktur und Sozialberichterstattung“); this latter function he kept until his retirement in 2002.