Lipset's Continental Divide - The Ideological Basis for Differences in Higher Education between Canada and United States

Oct 15, 2026

Analysis of Seymour Martin Lipset’s Continental Divide explains how founding political principles shaped enduring cultural and institutional differences between Canada and the United States. The essay summarizes Lipset’s thesis that revolution vs. counterrevolution produced contrasting political cultures and examines how these differences appear across religion, law, social welfare, arts, stratification, unions, multiculturalism, and federal-provincial relations. It then frames an examination of higher education by contrasting Lipset’s overall approach with the limited attention given to education, especially higher education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

The Thesis of Continental Divide

Founding principles and political culture

Cultural differences reflected in institutions and behavior

Competing explanations and Lipset’s conclusion

Illustrative example: government involvement and welfare

SPECIAL FEATURE/CONTRIBUTION SPECIALE # Lipset's Continental Divide*and the Ideological Basis for Differences in HigherEducation between Canada and United States MICHAELL.SKOLNIK十 The renowned American political sociologist,Seymour Lipset,has been inter-ested in the study of cultural and institutional differences between Canada andthe United States ever since he attempted to explain,in his doctoral thesis morethan forty years ago,why the first socialist government in North Americahappened to come to power in Canada.Continental Divide,thus,represents morethan forty years of study,reflection,and accumulation of data on differencesbetween Canada and the United States with respect to political values,behaviour,and institutions. Not surprisingly given this background to the undertaking,the book isextraordinarily well referenced,utilizing all the standard comparative works ofhistorians,sociologists,political scientists,and economists,as well as bringingtogether considerable data from public opinion polls which reveal consistent[although often modest]differences between the United States,English,andFrench Canada.Lipset reaches both into the past to the observations ofTocqueville,and some surprising observations of Friedrich Engels,on the role ofculture in explaining institutional differences between Canada and the UnitedStates,and into the immediate present to discuss the Meech Lake debate.He usesnot only scholarly literature,but examines also the way that differences in nationalidentity are revealed in fiction,films,and art.Indeed,Margaret Atwood andRobertson Davies are featured as prominently in his analysis as are S.D.Clark,Kenneth McNaught,Richard Simeon,and Northrup Frye. Although Lipset analyzes many areas of culture and institutional behaviour inCanada and the United States,he gives no attention to elementary and secondaryeducation and includes only a few brief comments about higher education.Thepurpose of this essay is to examine how Lipset's general explanation of culturaland institutional differences between Canada and the United States might serve to *Seymour Martin Lipset,Continental Divide:The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada.Toronto:C.D.Howe Institute,1989.317pp.,$15.00CAN. tProfessor,Higher Education Group,Ontario Institute for Studies in Education The author is indebted to Glen Jones,a doctoral student in the Higher Education Group,for very helpfulcomments on an earlier draft of this essay. explain the considerable differences which exist between Canadian and U.S.higher education.Before considering the differences in higher education betweenthe two countries,it is necessary first to summarize Lipset's general thesis. # THE THESIS OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE The major theme of the book is not new.It is that longstanding differences betweenCanada and the United States are rooted in the respective organizing principles ofthe two North American nations that grew out of the American Revolution: The United States is a country of the revolution,Canada of the counterrevolution.These very different formative events set indelible marks on the two nations.Onecelebrates the overthrow of an oppressive state,the triumph of the people,asuccessful effort to create a type of government never seen before.The othercommemorates a defeat and a long struggle to preserve a historical source oflegitimacy:a government's deriving its title-to-rule from a monarchy linked to achurch establishment.Government power is feared in the south;uninhibited popularsovereignty has been a concern in the north(p.1). From this difference in formative principles,one nation devolved a politicalculture characterized by antistatism,individualism,populism,and egalitarianism;the other more class-conscious,elitist,law-abiding,statist,collectivity-oriented,and particularistic.Lipset then documents how these cultural differences arereflected in political attitudes and behaviour related to religion,law and deviance,economic

FAQs

What is the core thesis of Continental Divide as summarized in the document?

Longstanding differences between Canada and the United States are rooted in the organizing principles of the two nations formed from the American Revolution: revolution in the United States versus counterrevolution in Canada.

How does Lipset link cultural differences to political attitudes and institutional behavior?

Lipset documents how contrasting cultural patterns relate to differences in religion, law and deviance, economic behavior, arts, government, social welfare, philanthropy, social stratification, trade unionism, multiculturalism, and federal-provincial or state relations.

Why does the essay focus on higher education despite Lipset’s broader coverage?

The document notes that Lipset gives little attention to elementary and secondary education and only brief comments about higher education, so the purpose is to assess how Lipset’s general explanation can explain differences in Canadian and U.S. higher education.

Oct 15, 2026

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