His imperviousness to the firestorm over his sexist remarks appears to reflect the support of a power structure that is largely unaccountable to the public, works to preserve the old guard and freezes out the critical voices of younger people.
The last section works to preserve the old guard and freezes out the critical voices of younger people seems to be the apposition of the support of a power structure that is largely unaccountable to the public.
If so, the term works should be a noun. But I have found it difficult to point out the exact meaning of the familiar word works with confidence, although it apparently means the figurative sense of apparatus or machinery. In short, I could not find a suitable entry in the section of the noun work in a couple of dictionaries.
What exactly does the word works mean and grammatically function?