Stephen Clarkson’s Great Transformation

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Based on his social background and elite early education, one might have anticipated for Stephen Clarkson a fairly conventional and conservative career, perhaps in finance or law. In fact, his graduate studies abroad as well as the experiences of the late 1960s he shared with his generation gave a famously critical edge to the dynamic and influential scholarly career that he eventually chose to pursue. Throughout that career, he expressed high hopes for a better Canada in a fairer and more sustainable world. With a skeptical perspective, his research described and assessed the post-war transformation of Canada within a rapidly changing global economy. That research, perhaps especially including his empirically informed critique of neoliberalism, transformed him too, just as it energized his teaching and inspired the next generation.