Paul Stevenson was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He spent his first year of university at Indiana University and then transferred to the University of Minnesota where he majored in psychology and minored in sociology. His second B.A. was from the University of Manitoba where he majored in economics and minored in political science. His M.A was in sociology and his thesis topic was on Latin America. His Ph.D. thesis from the University of California, Santa Barbara was on working class conscious in northend Winnipeg.