Melina F.May T.Jordan R.

WALLERSTEIN’S WORLD-SYSTEMS

THEORY

Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein was born in New York City on September 28th, 1930.

He gained an interest in global aff airs at a young age, particularly the anti-colonial movement of India at

the time.Attended Columbia University in 1951Has received a Bachelor’s Degree, Masters Degree in

1954 and a Ph.D. in 1959Based his studies on his trips to AfricaWorks in international relations and global sociological studies

WHO IS IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN?

Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory is a dependency theory based on capitalism. The theory states that there are unequal economic and political relationships in which some industrialized nations and their global corporations dominate the core of the world’s economic system. There are three basic types of social systems and nations. This theory is seen as a more radical view of the world.

WHAT IS THE WORLD-SYSTEMS THEORY?

Colonialism had an aff ect on every nation. Whether it was obtaining land, which would secure it’s position as a core state, or it was being colonized, which could cause a country to become a peripheral state. Colonialism also lead to imperialism, a system that widened the gap between LDCs and MDCs giving more power to future capitalist core nations. Colonialism also created a dependency on few natural resources or raw materials that they exported to the empire. The dependent peripheries’ economies fail because they are unable to produce anything else.

WHAT LEGACY DID COLONIALISM LEAVE?

Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profi t, rather than by the state. The system started in Europe but has spread throughout the world. Core States promote capitalism through taxes, government, and supporting the development of infrastructure. Capitalism is important to the world-system because it created the system. Wallerstein believes that capitalism is a necessary to reach the final phase of economic development, which he calls the “end of history”

WHAT IS CAPITALISM AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO THE WORLD SYSTEMS

THEORY?

Industrialized, capitalist countries on which periphery and semi-periphery countries depend

Benefit from and control the global marketWealthy nations with a wide variety of resources due

to geographical advantage (Usually North American or Europe)

Have strong state institutions, powerful military, and political alliances

Today core countries are mostly developed countriesExamples: Australia, Canada, Japan, United States

WHAT ARE THE 3 TYPES OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS?

CORE NATIONS

WHAT ARE THE 3 TYPES OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS?

SEMI-PERIPHERY NATIONSSemi-peripheral-Countries that share characteristics

of both core and periphery countries.Major exporters and focus on manufacturingAlways originate from previous core countriesMajor contributors to the world's economy Tend to have unmanaged poverty and lack the economic power to rise to core standards.Were able to go from peripheral to semi-peripheral

countries but are very unlikely to become core countries

WHAT ARE THE 3 TYPES OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS?

PERIPHERY NATIONSLeast developed countriesOften exploited countries for their labor, natural resources,

and agricultural productionThe majority of the world’s countries are periphery

countries Some periphery countries have moved to semi-periphery

countries, but it will be diffi cult for them to become core countries

Capitalism and debts to core countries keep them from becoming core countries

Countries lacking a strong central governments or are under the control of another state

Examples: Bolivia, El Salvador, Rwanda, Cambodia, Peru, and most of Sub-Saharan Africa

WHAT ARE THE 3 BASIC TYPES OF WORLD-SYSTEMS

WORLD-EMPIRE Were the dominant form of historical systems from

the earliest civilizations until about 1500 A.D.The defining characteristic is a single political center

or structureCreates an extensive division of labor and a wide

range of cultural patterns

WHAT ARE THE 3 BASIC TYPES OF WORLD-SYSTEMS

WORLD-ECONOMYHave no unified political systems Dominance is not based on military powerBased on the exporting of surplus from outlying

districts to central districts Large, uneven integrated production structures from

through division of labor and commercial change

WHAT ARE THE 3 BASIC TYPES OF WORLD-SYSTEMS

MINI-SYSTEM Small, homogenous societiesHunter/gatherers/horticulturalist Have a self-contained economyProduce all of their goods and services within their

economic systemDo not participate in trade with other societiesMini-systems largely correspond to the pre-

agricultural era. Tend to be small in space and brief in time.Were highly consistent in terms of cultural and

governing structures and they split up when they became too large.

World-system has declining since the Vietnam War era due to pressures (social, anti-Wall street, and leftist movements)

Dependency on a single resource or core country by peripheral nations

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH THE WORLD-SYSTEMS

RANDOM PICTURE

ANOTHER RANDOM PICTURE

LAST ONE I PROMISE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbS1VkX3CP0&spfreload=1

http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Wallerstein1.htm

http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Wallerstein.asphttps://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boun

dless-sociology-textbook/global-stratification-and-inequality-8/sociological-theories-and-global-inequality-72/world-systems-theory-429-537/

http://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/WorldSystem.pdf

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