Vjeran Katunarić was born in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Zagreb. From 1985 to 2010, he was professor at the University of Zagreb, from 2010 to 2019 at the University of Zadar.
He published over 150 works, including 20 books. His titles published in English include The Quest for a Liberal-Socialist Democracy and Development: Against the Behemoth (2018) and Dancing and Calculating: Culturally sustainable development and globalization in light of two paradigms of socio-cultural development (2014).
He was awarded the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the figure of Marko Marulić for merits in culture. He is also the winner of the annual award for the science of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, and the honor "Rudi Supek" for extraordinary significant achievements, successes, and merits for the development of sociology. In 2017, he obtained the highest recognition in science in Croatia by receiving the State Award (granted by the Croatian Parliament) for his lifetime achievement in the social sciences.