Immanuel Wallerstein

Immanuel Wallerstein

Wallerstein is not advocating a new theory in sociology, rather he is advocating a whole new way of doing social science. The focus of social science, Wallerstein believes, is tied much too closely to the nation state or more vaguely, to “society.” He asserts that states as well as the organizations and groups that make up such structures exist within a much broader economic, political and legal framework he calls “world-systems." World-systems, according to Wallerstein, are the only true social system—they alone contain all social relations that are necessary for survival, they alone comprise the complete division of labor necessary for sustenance and growth. Nation states must be understood in terms of the world context of their era, and modern nation states can only be fully understood in terms of the modern world-system of capitalism. It is thus world-systems that are the proper subject of the social sciences.

Study Questions:

Address the following questions fully and completely in your own words and voice; save your answers electronically. You will see at least one of these questions on your next unit exam in which you will be asked to demonstrate that you have read and mastered the material. Prepare your answers now.

What are idiographic and nomothetic methodologies? Which does Wallerstein consider most valid for understanding sociocultural systems?
What are the functions of the Core? The Periphery? The Semi-Periphery?
Compare and contrast the two types of world-systems.
How does the capitalist world-system maintain political stability?
What does Wallerstein mean by a "liberal state"?
What is a hegemon? What is its life cycle?
According to Wallerstein, why is the capitalist world-system about to fail? Evaluate his arguments.

Read:

Chapter 3: "Wallerstein's World-Systems Analysis" in Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists.

Wallerstein's World-System Theory

Links:

The Modern World-System

U.S. Weakness and the Struggle
for Hegemony

Summary of Wallerstein on World System Theory

Biography

In His Own Words:

The Commentaries

Bibliography:

Wallerstein, I. (2003). The Decline of American Power. New York: The New Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1999). The End of the World as We Know It. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Wallerstein, I. (2000). The Essential Wallerstein. New York: The new Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1980). The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750. New York: Academic Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1989). The Modern World-System III: The Second Era of Great Expasnion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840. New York: Academic Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.

Wallerstein, I. (1998). Utopistics: or, Historical Choices for the Twentyfirst Century. New York: WW Norton.