He is an emeritus professor of industrial relations and human resources in the department of political science at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and a faculty associate at the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington.
Further, Goldfield claims that the failure of American labor unions to confront racism and organize African-American workers contributed to the inability of labor unions to play a greater political role in American society.
[16] Francis Fox Piven referred to the book as a "magisterial review of the role of racism in American history".
In response to Theda Skocpol's critiques of Neo-Marxist theories of the state, Goldfield issued a defense culminating in an exchange in American Political Science Review.
Skocpol's defense of her critiques, and her subsequent assessment of Goldfield's arguments in what have become known as the Wagner Act Debates, are regarded as an important moment in the development of academic theories of the state.