Bell began his professional life as a journalist, being managing editor of "The New Leader" magazine (1941–1945), labor editor of "Fortune" (1948–1958), and later, co-editor (with his college friend Irving Kristol) of "The Public Interest" magazine (1965–1973). In the late 1940s, Bell was an Instructor in the Social Sciences in the College of the University of Chicago. During the 1950s, it was close to the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Subsequently, he taught sociology, first at Columbia (1959–1969) and then at Harvard until his retirement in 1990. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1964.