Božidar Jakšić was born in 1937 in Sarajevo. He studied philosophy, history and sociology in Sarajevo and Belgrade. After publishing an article in Praxis in 1972, the state attorney leveled charges against him. As politically unfit, he lost his position of Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo. He moved to Belgrade and became a Research Associate at the Institute of the International Workers’ Movement (later renamed to the Institute for European Studies). In 1985 he joined the Center for Philosophy and Social Theory, which he managed in 1991-1992. In 1992 he became the first Director of the newly established Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, a position he held until 1995. He was a member of the governing body of the Korčula Summer School, and the editor-in-chief of the journals Sociology (Sociologija) and Philosophy and Society (Filozofija i društvo).
During the 1990s he participated in the anti-war movement and associated protests. He was a fierce critic of the warmongering politics and nationalism. As a form of resistance, he personally initiated, and with the help of the Council of Europe organized, five international annual conferences on interculturalism (1994-1998), which gathered colleagues and specialists from all the post-Yugoslav states, but also from Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan and Australia. His special interests included the history of ideas, critical analysis of contemporary society, and the social position and problems of Romani population.
Books: Historija i sociologija, 1976; Svest socijalnog protesta, 1986; Vreme revolucije?, 1989; Balkanski paradoksi ‒ Ogledi o raspadu Jugoslavije, 2000; Ljudi bez krova/Roofless People, 2002; Mitarenje čudovišta, 2004; Buka i bes ‒ O pravu na kritičko mišljenje, 2005; Milsova kritika društva organizovane neodgovornosti, 2007; Praxis – mišljenje kao diverzija, 2012; Smutna vremena, 2014; Romi u Srbiji između nakovnja siromaštva i čekića diskriminacije, 2015.