world-system

world-system, world-systems theory

A historical description of the growth of the capitalist economic system, from centre to periphery, and of the effects of this growth on capitalist and pre-capitalist societies alike. It is associated mainly with the work of Immanuel Wallerstein and his colleagues at the Fernand Braudel Centre for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations, at the State University of New York at Binghampton (see especially The Modern World-System, 2 vols., 1974, 1980; The Capitalist World-Economy, 1979).

The obvious inadequacies of dependency theory encouraged two elaborations upon it during the 1970s: the theories of internal colonialism and of centre-periphery. The latter is, strictly speaking, not a theory at all; rather, a heuristic descriptive device which suggests that changes in the socio-economic structure of society are related to changes in its spatial structure. It is, in fact, a mix of ideas taken from geographical central place theory, classical political economy, Marxism, and theories of regional development. In general terms it provides a highly descriptive form of social area analysis in which the attributes of populations are catalogued and related to residential location. World-systems theory then gives a further sociological gloss to such accounts by documenting the expansion of capitalism across the globe. Its central propositions are that capitalism is organized globally rather than nationally, that the dominant core regions develop advanced industrial systems and exploit the raw materials of the periphery, and that the modern world is rooted in an international economic order and diverse political systems (whereas pre-modern empires display the opposite pattern).

Although Wallerstein's work is suggestive and has been influential, it does little more than direct attention to the relationships between centre and periphery in this expansion, suggesting a holistic analysis but not (of itself) providing that analysis. Different world-systems analysts have attached the centre-periphery metaphor to different theories in an attempt to explain the relationships they observe. (Wallerstein himself has moved from an early reliance on neofunctionalist categories to an accommodation with Marxist political economy.) There is also some internal disagreement among proponents of the approach as to precisely what factors explain the centralizing tendencies described. Critics-of whom there are many-have also suggested that world-systems theory neglects the effects of endogenous factors generally, and culture in particular, in explanations of social change (see, ‘The Critique of World-System Theory’, in , Sociological Theory 1984, 1984, and Wallerstein's ‘World-Systems Analysis’, in , Social Theory Today, 1987). See also centre-periphery model ; globalization.