Table of Contents
Definition of World-systems Theory
(noun) Theory asserting that most nations are part of a worldwide interdependent economic and political system based on the unequal exchange in the division of labor and allocation of resources between core nations, semi-peripheral nations, and peripheral nations.
Example of World-systems Theory
- According to research by Babones (2005), the United States (core nation) benefits unequally from economic and political exchanges with Brazil (semi-peripheral nation) and Kenya (peripheral nation).
World-systems Theory Pronunciation
Syllabification: world sys·tems the·o·ry
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /wUHRld-sIs-tuhmz thEE-uhr-ree/
- British English – /wuhrld-sIs-timz thIUH-ree/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /wɜrld-ˈsɪstəmz ˈθiəri/
- British English – /wɜːld-ˈsɪstɪmz ˈθɪəri/
Usage Notes
- World system theory was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein (born 1930).
- Not to be confused with dependency theory.
- A type of macrosociological perspective; system; and theory.
- Variant spelling: world system theory
- Also called:
- world economy theory
- world-systems analysis
- world-systems perspective
- world-systems
Related Video
Additional Information
- Economic Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- World-systems Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “world” and “systems” and “theory” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- capitalism
- core nations
- dependency theory
- economic
- global perspective
- globalization
- peripheral nations
- poverty
- power
- semi-peripheral nations
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.
Works Consulted
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Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of World-system
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “world-systems theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/world-systems-theory/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
world-systems theory. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/world-systems-theory/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “world-systems theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/world-systems-theory/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“world-systems theory.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/world-systems/>.