Europe, in legend, has always been the home of subtle philosophical discussion; America was the land of grubby pragmatism.

S. His most influential books are The End of Ideology (1960) The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976) and The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973). ; his dissertation was entitled "The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties" the title of his first book.

He has been described as "one of the leading American intellectuals of the postwar era. " His three best known works are The End of Ideology The Coming of Post-Industrial Society and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism.