According to Mills, the “alienated” man is a contemporary definition for the human condition. Individuals have to increasingly modify and augment their lives and desires to fit the needs of the institutions or organizations to which they belong (and on whose wage their livelihood depends). The outcome, however, is not the production of a freer society but rather a society wherein individuals increasingly perform for their organization. This performance comes at the expense of individuals’ freedom to devote time and energy to themselves and their own personal ambitions. Individuals have limited a say in decision-making that impacts their lives. As a result, Mills says, there is an inverse relation between “self-rationalization” and the unfreedom of individuals.

The common, alienated man exists in tension against the managerial elite, the decision-makers in a business or government. The elite are separated from the common man, unaware and uncaring of his basic needs. They are more concerned with extracting labor than they are with freedom. Mills thus encourages social scientists to hold the elite responsible for social problems, instead of aiding and abetting their actions.