Michael Dunlop Young was born in Hale, Cheshire, 9 August 1915, the son of Ernest Gibson Young and Edith Hermia Young (née Dunlop), and brought up in Melbourne, Australia, 1917-23. He was educated at Dartington Hall School, 1929-33, and the London School of Economics, BSc, 1938, and PhD, 1955. He married Joan Lawson in 1945 (divorced 1960), with whom he had two sons and one daughter; (Ruth) Sasha Moorsom in 1961 (died 1993), with whom he had one son and one daughter; and Dorit Uhlemann in 1995, with whom he had one daughter.

He joined a firm of solicitors, McKenna and Co, London, 1933-5, and was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn, 1939. He worked at Political and Economic Planning (PEP), 1939-45, and in the Research Department of the Labour Party, 1945-51, where he was one of the draftsmen of the 1945 election manifesto "Let Us Face the Future". He established the Institute of Community Studies in Bethnal Green, London, and became its first Director, 1953-2001. He carried out research at the Center for Advanced Study of Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 1958-9. He was Lecturer in Sociology, Cambridge University, 1961-3; a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, 1961-6; and Chairman of the Social Science Research Council, 1965-8.

From his base at the Institute of Community Studies, he was involved in the creation of many new organisations, including the Consumers' Association, 1956, and "Which?" magazine, 1957; the Advisory Centre for Education, 1959; the National Extension College, 1962; the Open University, 1969; the International Extension College, 1970; the Mutual Aid Centre, 1977; the University of the Third Age, 1982; the College of Health, 1983; Healthline, 1986; the Open College of the Arts, 1987; the Open School, 1989; Language Line, 1990; the National Association for the Education of Sick Children, 1993; the National Funerals College, 1994; and the School for Social Entrepeneurs, 1998.

He was created a life peer, as Lord Young of Dartington, 1978. He was a trustee of Dartington Hall, 1942-92; an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics, 1978-2002, and Churchill College, Cambridge, 1995-2002; and President of Birkbeck College, London, 1989-92.

He died on 14 January 2002.

His publications include: with Peter Willmott, "Family and Kinship in East London" (1957); "The Rise of the Meritocracy" (1958); with Peter Willmott, "Family and Class in a London Suburb" (1960); "Innovation and Research in Education" (1965); with Patrick McGeeney, "Learning Begins at Home" (1968); with Peter Willmott, "The Symmetrical Family" (1973); "The Elmhirsts of Dartington" (1982); with Marianne Rigge, "Revolution from Within: co-operatives and co-operation in British industry" (1983); "Social Scientist as Innovator" (1983); "The Metronomic Society" (1988); with Tom Schuller, "The Rhythms of Society" (1988); with Tom Schuller, "Life After Work" (1991); with Sasha Moorsom Young, "Your Head in Mine" (1994); with Lesley Cullen, "A Good Death" (1996); and with Gerard Lemos, "Communities We Have Lost and Can Regain" (1997).