Background
Horowitz was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 2. He grew up in Calgary, Winnipeg, and Montreal.
Horowitz was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 2. He grew up in Calgary, Winnipeg, and Montreal.
He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University in 1965, writing his thesis on "Canadian Labor in Politics: The trade unions and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation-NDP, 1937-1962", with Sam Beer as his advisor.
He is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Horowitz earned his Bachelor from the University of Manitoba. He earned his Master of Arts from McGill University in 1959, writing his thesis on "Mosca and Mills: Ruling Class and Power Elite".
Horowitz teaches a class at the University of Toronto entitled "The Spirit of Democratic Citizenship" which revolves around general semantics, a non-Aristotelian educational discipline first theorized by Polish engineer Alfred Korzybski.
Horowitz has specialised in labour theory, and most notably coined the appellation "Red Tory" in his application of Louis Hartz"s "fragment theory" to Canadian political culture and ideological development, in his essay "Conservatism, Liberalism and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation" (in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, 32, 2 (1966): 143–71). The use of this appellation differentiates traditional Canadian Toryism from the powerful classical liberal elements that began to emerge in the Conservative Party after World World War II, but it has applications to conservative parties in other countries where "Tory" acceptance of state enterprises, the welfare state, and other institutions seen as expressions of national character conflicts with "liberal" or "neoliberal" rejection of state intervention in the economy. 1966.
Canadian Nationalism: on foreign ownership, international trade unionism, sports media, Americanization of the universities, and more.
Horowitz was a member of the editorial board of Canadian Dimension in its early days, and a frequent contributor to that magazine.