ABSTRACT
S. M. Lipset's analyses of the value differences between Canadians and Americans provide the best-known examples of comparative research on values involving these two countries (Lipset, 1963a, 1963b, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1985, 1986, 1990). Lipset's work on this topic has enjoyed a longstanding prominence, in part because of his thought-provoking claims about the nature of value differences between the United States and Canada, as well as his rather controversial "origins" explanation for these alleged differences. l This chapter tests some of the implications of Lipset's research, by placing data from the United States and Canada in a broader international context. We begin with a brief review of Lipset's argument concerning Canadian-American value differences, and then discuss how his argument is part of a more general "first new nation" thesis of American exceptionalism. The more general thesis, which is most clearly stated in Lipset's early writings, is that, in terms of predominant values, the United
States is the most "modem" nation relative to the other countries of the world. We then test this argument using evidence on child-rearing values from 15 nations.2
