In or around the year 1956, the percentage of American workers who were “white collar” exceeded the percentage that were blue collar for the first time. Although labor statistics had long foretold this outcome, what the shift meant was unclear, and little theoretical work had prepared anyone to understand it. In the preceding years, the United States had quickly built itself up as an industrial powerhouse, emerging from World War II as the world’s leading source of manufactured goods.
via Paper Pushers – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education.
