The New American Society

Art and Joseph Bensman collaborated on many books. This one was perhaps one that brought them into the greatest level of collaboration any two sociologists might ever hope to achieve. Their work portrayed the 'revolution" of the American middle class in the Post World War II era. Their assessment of the new middle class would be the first of numerous ongoing "status reports" on how the American experiment in political democracy was faring.

The book was extremely well received. Robert Nisbet praised the authors and their book stating "first rate - more than any single book I can think of, it avoids the pitfalls and meets the realities which lie in front of anyone seeking to do justice to the complexities of American social stratification. The authors have faced up to the fact that social class in the 19th and early 20th century sense no longer exists... I hope profoundly that this book, with its wealth of revealing details, its crystal clear perspectives, and its extraordinarily lucid writing, will remove the cant and ritual which are the common baggage of writing on social class in this country. Almost for the first time, this a book on social status in America that has the benefit of sure insight into the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the American poltical and economic structure sine the New Deal. I wish for it the widest possible reading."