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C. Wright Mills, influenced by Max Weber, 'offered a radical critique of American society' in 'White Collar' and 'The Power Elite,' and 'became a hero to the New Left in the 1950s,' according to Daniel Geary (135), who also notes that Mills criticized his fellow sociologists for failure 'to consider total social structures' (141). James's enthusiasm for popular culture encouraged his followers 'to approach society from the bottom up, keeping their ears open for rumblings of alienation and resistance in popular consciousness, leaving no sphere of culture or society unexamined, an approach that helped to transform social history and cultural criticism' (174).

Demographic changes in the next 20 years will affect labor force characteristics and workers' expectations of jobs and unions. These expectations will affect the size and strength of labor unions, union organizing and bargaining, and union political-legislative actions. A demographic look at the next 20 years indicates (1) a slowdown in population growth contributing to slow economic growth and slow growth in jobs; (2) aging of the labor force, and more concern for job security and retirement; (3) women, blacks, and Hispanic-background workers constituting bigger shares of the labor force; (4) population and job growth in the Sunbelt and in nonmetropolitan areas; and (5) declining opportunities for upward mobility for the middle-aged, baby-boom generation. These changes point to a continuing key role for labor unions in protecting and promoting the interests of working people.