The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, but Join Much Less

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The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, but Join Much Less. By Seymour Martin Lipset and Noah M. Meltz with Rafael Gomez and Ivan Katchanovski. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. 240p. $32.50.

This short book asks excellent questions and presents interesting results from a survey of Canadian and U.S. attitudes toward unions, as well as useful data on union membership, but its explanation of the contrasting trajectories of organized labor on either side of the border is unconvincing. The core problem is Seymour Lipset and Noah Meltz's cultural theory that the two countries have different political and social value foundations—“social democratic” Canada and “libertarian” America—which do not change but explain the post-1964 divergence of union membership in the two countries.