World-systems Theory Resources | Open Education Sociology Dictionary

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Related Quotations

“A world-system is not the system of the world, but a system that is a world and that can be, most often has been, located in an area less than the entire globe. World-systems analysis argues that the unities of social reality within which we operate, whose rules constrain us, are for the most part, such world-systems (other than the now-extinct small minisystems that once existed on the earth). World-systems analysis argues that there have been thus far only two varieties of world-system: world-economies and world-empires . . . In English, the hyphen is essential to indicate [this concept]. ‘World-system’ without a hyphen suggests that there has been only one world-system in the history of the world” (Wallerstein 2004:98–99).
“Immanuel Wallerstein’s theory that the interconnectedness of the world system began in the 1500s, when Europeans began their economic and political domination of the rest of the world. Because capitalism depends on generating the maximum profits for the minimum of expenditures, the world system continues to benefit rich countries (which acquire the profits) and harm the rest of the world (by minimizing local expenditures and therefore perpetuating poverty)” (Kimmel and Aronson 2012:664).
“Transitions from the semiperiphery to the core have historically been rare, and have largely driven by chance (e.g., the discovery of oil) or massive transfers (e.g., membership in the EU). Neither mechanism can be relied upon to drive policy in the poorer countries of the world more broadly . . . Keeping in mind that the vast majority of the world’s population lives in the periphery of the world-economy, it would not be an unworthy goal to focus on ways to help peripheral countries attain semiperipheral income levels. While the current research gives no guidance on how to accomplish this goal, it does suggest that such a goal might be productively pursued” (Babones 2005:53).

Additional Information

Economic Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
Abu-Lughod, Janet. 1989. Before European Hegemony: The World-system, A.D. 1250–1350. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Amin, Samir. 1974. Accumulation on a World Scale: A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment. New York: Monthly Review.
Amin, Samir, and Patrick Camiller. 2003. Obsolescent Capitalism: Contemporary Politics and Global Disorder. New York: Zed Books.
Aronowitz, Stanley. 1981. “A Metatheoretical Critique of Immanuel Wallerstein’s The Modern World-system.” Theory and Society 10(4):503–20. doi:10.1007/bf00182156.
Arrighi, Giovanni. 1994. The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times. New York: Verso.
Arrighi, Giovanni, and Jessica Drangel. 1986. “The Stratification of the World-economy: An Exploration of the Semiperipheral Zone.” Review 10(1):9–74.
Arrighi, Giovanni, and Beverly Silver. 1999. Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Babones, Salvatore J. 2002. The International Structure of Income and Its Implications for Economic Growth, 1960–2000. PhD dissertation, Department of Sociology, The Johns Hopkins University.
Babones, Salvatore J. 2005. “The Country-level Income Structure of the World-economy.” Journal of World-Systems Research 11(1):29–55. doi:10.5195/jwsr.2005.392.
Brenner, Robert. 1977. “The Origins of Capitalist Development: A Critique of Neo-Smithian Marxism.” New Left Review 1(104):25–92. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-16847-7_4
Chase-Dunn, Christopher. 1998. Global Formation: Structures of the World-economy. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Chase-Dunn, Christopher, and Thomas D. Hall. 1997. Rise and Demise: Comparing World-systems. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Cumings, Bruce. 1984. “The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Sectors, Product Cycles, and Political Consequences.” International Organization 38(1):1–40. doi:10.1017/s0020818300004264.
Dussel, Enrique. “Beyond Eurocentrism: The World System and the Limits of Modernity.” Pp. 3–37 in The Cultures of Globalization, edited by F. Jameson and M. Miyoshi. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Emmanuel, Arghiri. 1972. Unequal Exchange: A Study of the Imperialism of Trade. New York: Monthly Review.
Frank, André Gunder. 1978. World Accumulation, 1492–1789. New York: Monthly Review.
Frank, André Gunder. 1998. ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Hall, Thomas D. 2000. A World-systems Reader. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Hopkins, Terence K., and Immanuel Wallerstein. 1982. World-systems Analysis: Theory and Methodology. Beverly Hills: CA: SAGE.
Kendall, Gavin, Ian Woodward, and Zlatko Skrbiš. 2009. The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism: Globalization, Identity, Culture and Government. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kentor, Jeffrey. 2000. Capital and Coercion: The Economic and Military Processes that Have Shaped the World Economy 1800–1990. New York: Garland.
Kick, Edward L. 1987. “World-system Structure, Nationalist Development, and the Prospects for a Socialist World Order.” Pp. 127–55 in America’s Changing Role in the World-system, edited by T. Boswell and A. Bergesen. New York: Praeger.
Korzeniewicz, Roberto Patricio, and William Martin. 1994. “The Global Distribution of Commodity Chains.” Pp. 67–91 in Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism, edited by G. Gereffi and M. Korzeniewicz. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Lechner, Frank, and John Boli. 2012. The Globalization Reader. Chichester, West Sussex: J. Wiley & Sons.
Martell, Luke. 2010. The Sociology of Globalization. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
McMichael, Philip. 2017. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective. 6th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Nash, Kate. 2010. Contemporary Political Sociology: Globalization, Politics, and Power. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Nemeth, Roger, and David A. Smith. 1985. “International Trade and World-system Structure: A Multiple Network Analysis.” Review 8(4):517–60.
Robertson, Roland, and Kathleen E. White, eds. 2003. Globalization: Critical Concepts in Sociology. London: Routledge.
Sassen, Saskia. 2007. A Sociology of Globalization. New York: Norton.
Skocpol, Theda. 1977. “Wallerstein’s World Capitalist System: A Theoretical and Historical Critique.” American Journal of Sociology 82(5):1075–90. doi:10.1086/226431.
Smith, David A., and Douglas R. White. 1992. “Structure and Dynamics of the Global Economy: Network Analysis of International Trade 1965–80.” Social Forces 70(4):857–93. doi:10.2307/2580193.
Snyder, David, and Edward L. Kick. 1979. “Structural Position in the World-system and Economic Growth, 1955–1970: A Multiple-network Analysis of Transnational Interactions.” American Journal of Sociology 84(5):1096–1126. doi:10.1086/226902.
Taylor, Peter J. 1999. Modernities: A Geohistorical Interpretation. Cambridge: Polity.
Terlouw, Cornelius P. 1993. “The Elusive Semiperiphery: A Critical Examination of the Concept Semiperiphery.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 34(1/2):87–102.
Van Rossem, Ronan. 1996. “The World-system Paradigm as General Theory of Development: A Cross-national Test.” American Sociological Review 61(3):508–27. doi:10.2307/2096362.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974. The Modern World-system. New York: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel M. 1974. The Modern World-system I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel M. 1979. The Capitalist World-economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 2004. World-systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
World Bank. 2004. World Development Indicators. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Zolberg, Aristide. 1981. “Origins of the Modern World System: A Missing Link.” World Politics 33(2):253–81. doi:10.2307/2010372.
Immanuel Wallerstein – Personal Website: iwallerstein.com
Immanuel Wallerstein – Yale University: yale.edu
Theory Talk – Immanuel Wallerstein on World-Systems, the Imminent End of Capitalism and Unifying Social Science: theory-talks.org
World-Systems Archives: wsarch.ucr.edu
World-systems theory – Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: wikipedia.org
- Note: The Wikipedia article on world system theory is well researched and articulated, particularly the nuances of the theory.

Journals

Organizations

Citing the OESD: Please see the front page for general citation information or any definition for specific citation information.

References

Babones, Salvatore J. 2005. “The Country-level Income Structure of the World-Economy.” Journal of World-Systems Research 11(1):29–55. doi:10.5195/jwsr.2005.392.

Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Wallerstein, Immanuel. 2004. World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.