[1] Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1916, he briefly belonged to Neu Beginnen and Hashomer Hatzair, groups that resisted the Nazis.
He argued that the constellations of legitimating ideas were not mere reflections of life conditions, or social structure, but independent and real forces.
[2] Bendix, who was deeply devoted to teaching, died in Berkeley, California, in 1991 of a heart attack shortly after conducting a graduate seminar together with a young colleague.
In the course of his lifetime, Bendix received many honors,[1] including fellowships from the Fulbright Program and the Guggenheim, a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, as well as being named a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, and was accepted into both the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
[3] Bendix was a member of the American Philosophical Society and received honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds, Mannheim, and Göttingen.