World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction (A John Hope Franklin Center Book)

World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction (A John Hope Franklin Center Book)

By: Immanuel Wallerstein  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Wallerstein explains the defining characteristics of world-systems analysis: its emphasis on world-systems rather than nation-states, on the need to consider historical processes as they unfold over long periods of time, and on combining within a single analytical framework bodies of knowledge usually viewed as distinct from one another—such as history, political science, economics, and sociology. He describes the world-system as a social reality comprised of interconnected nations, firms, households, classes, and identity groups of all kinds. He identifies and highlights the significance of the key moments in the evolution of the modern world-system: the development of a capitalist world-economy in the sixteenth-century, the beginning of two centuries of liberal centrism in the French Revolution of 1789, and the undermining of that centrism in the global revolts of 1968. Intended for general readers, students, and experienced practitioners alike, this book presents a complete overview of world-systems analysis by its original architect.

Publisher: Duke University Press

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
From Branddenotes.blogspot.com - This book, and the world-systems approach, is an antidote to learning about the world by following "current events" in "the news" - the kind of approach taken, for instance, by people who were surprised by the onset of the current financial crisis.

"Part of the problem is that we have studied these phenomena in separate boxes to which we have given special names - politics, economics, the social structure, culture - without seeing that these boxes are constructs more of our imagination than of reality. The phenomena dealt with in these separate boxes are so closely intermeshed that each presumes the other, each affects the other, each is incomprehensible without taking into account the other boxes.
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World-systems analysis meant first of all the substitution of a unit of analysis called the 'world-system' for the standard unit of analysis, which was the national state. On the whole, historians had been analyzing national histories, economists national economies, political scientists national political structures, and sociologists national societies. World-systems analysts raised a skeptical eyebrow, questioning whether any of these objects of study really existed... they substituted 'historical systems' [for these objects].
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[The] world-economy was said to be marked by an axial division of labor between core-like production processes and peripheral production processes, which resulted in an unequal exchange favoring those involved in core-like production processes. Since such processes tended to group together in particular countries, one could use a shorthand language by talking of core and peripheral zones" or of core, peripheral, and semiperipheral states depending on the types of production processes predominant in each particular state. Core processes are those which are relatively monopolized (oligopoly) and highly profitable (think aerospace and genetic engineering); peripheral processes are relatively free market and less profitable (think textile manufacturing). "When exchange occurs, competitive products are in a weak position and quasi-monopolized products are in a strong position. As a result, there is a constant flow of surplus-value from the producers of peripheral products to the producers of core-like products. This has been called unequal exchange.
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The strong states, which contain a disproportionate share of core-like processes, tend to emphasize their role of protecting the quasi-monopolies of the core-like processes. The very weak states, which contain a disproportionate share of peripheral production processes, are usually unable to do very much to affect the axial division of labor, and in effect are largely forced to accept the lot that has been given them. [] The semiperipheral states which have a relatively even mix of production processes find themselves ... [u]nder pressure from core states and putting pressure on peripheral states. ... These semiperipheral states are the ones that put forward most aggressively and most publicly so-called protectionist policies. ... They are eager recipients of the relocation of erstwhile leading products, which they define these days as achieving 'economic development.'"

Peripheral states would be the G8, and the OECD countries; semiperipheral states would be the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, and peripheral states would be those also called underdeveloped or "least developed countries." This is a much clearer and more useful perspective than that of looking at the world solely as what this or that particular nation is up to.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
coprenical revolution in social sciences - This book is a coprenical revolution (after Nicolaus Copernicus) where it unveils both modern history and society in a clear manner, and it removes all of the ideological gibberish we have been fed in our schools. It tells us about capitalism as a system where the main goal is to acquire capital for the sake of capital. It tells us how this occurred system came into being and sheds deep insights into how such a system operates.

Customer Review: 2 out of 5
Mixed feelings - This book is well written and easy to follow. The author does a splendid job discussing his points in detail and in a clear fashion. However, this book is typically used for graduate European historiography classes.... This is where the mixed feelings come in.

It essentially focuses on capitalism in the modern world....this is pathetic and a waste of time for a European historiography course. After finishing the book, the reader walks away with a sense that capitalism was the only form of economic policy European countries adhered to. Naturally anyone with a general knowledge of European history will understand this to be entirely false.


Furthermore, the biased is evidentially there. Now it is not to say that Wallerstein could not be fare, but his background clearly is of a communists belief. (No this is not an anti-communist complaint) The book in several ways runs down capitalism, and is quite biased. All economic systems have their faults, none are or ever will be perfect, and in many cases there are necessary evils within each system. However, the book portrays capitalism negatively--hardly giving the system any credit.


**** Now, this book gives a wonderful picture of capitalism from a communist perspective, and if interested I suggest picking a copy up.


However, Graduate professors...Please find another text, Europe extends further back than 1848 AD.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Still the same arrogant S.O.B. - If you are new to WS then start reading Marx and Political Theory by Richard Ashcraft a Professor at UCLA. It's a JSTOR article found in journal "Comparative Studies in Society and History," Vol. 26, No. 4. (Oct., 1984), pp. 637-671. Anyway, this book is typical Wallerstein. Having read everything he has written - the judgment is; he was born in 1930. Around the end of the 1970s he said that by 1990, the world would change forever, meaning it was his 60th birtday and he would become an emeritus at Yale, not have to teach and write books and spout daily newspaper articles. Now that he's 77 years old, well this book was written a few years back, and in hindsight, if you are able to drop out of sociology world system then do it. Any professor that is teaching this for a long time has to be a mental case. All the so called WS scholars do empirical testing on data that has no meaning or consequence to anything whatsoever. Stay away from world-systems. However, this book still gets four stars as it gives a decent overview. Note that there is no political economy in Wallerstein's version of the World System.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
System Analysis Lives! - When Robert Strange McNamara became Secretary of Defense in 1961, one of the innovative ideas that he introduced was an analytic methodology called `Systems Analysis' which was then in vogue in private industry. The Pentagon then spent the next decade trying to figure out what Systems Analysis was and how it could apply to military issues. Systems Analysis in point of fact is a very useful analytic tool that recognizes that problems are best solved when viewed not in isolation, but as part of a larger integrated whole. While this is a perfectly valid analytic methodology, it fell out of favor as a management tool once it became apparent it was not a solution to bad management styles ( such as those of McNamara himself).

Yet while Systems Analysis was enjoying its moment in the Sun, academic scholars from every discipline tried to adapt Systems Analysis to their particular discipline. Which brings us to Immanuel Wallerstein and his book "World Systems Analysis." Wallerstein has postulated that a world wide system could be described as a "Capitalist World Economy" and that system could be analyzed in accordance with the principles of systems analysis. Several things need to be noted at this point. First, `Capitalist World Economy' is in itself not a pejorative term, but simply describes a very specific kind of economic system. Second this term which Wallerstein insists on using really is more widely known under the rubric of "Globalization" which indeed can be studied by means of systems analysis. To his great credit Wallerstein has spent the last thirty years studying and refining the application of systems analysis methodology to worldwide problems. While he is clearly influenced by the works of Karl Marx ( and probably George Hegel as well), this does not negate his basic premise that the world can be understood best in terms of world wide systems that can indeed be subjected rigorous analysis. A good and accessible book that provides an alternative way of looking at the phenomena associated with Globalization.

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