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Immanuel Wallerstein's Theory Of World System Theory

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World-system theory is a macrosociological perspective that seeks to explain the dynamics of the “capitalist world economy” as a “total social system”(Vela, 2001). It is also known as the world-systems analysis or the world-systems perspective. Its first major connection is associated with Immanuel Wallerstein, who in 1974 published what is regarded as a seminal paper, “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis”; in 1976 Wallerstein published “The Modern World System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century” (Wallerstein, 1974). This is Wallerstein’s landmark contribution to sociological and historical thought and it triggered numerous reactions, and inspired many others to build on his ideas. Image One: Immanuel Wallerstein (St. Rosemary Institution, N/D) "World-system" refers to the inter-regional and transnational division of labor, which divides the world into core countries, semi-periphery countries, and the periphery countries(Barfield, 1997) The core regions benefited the most from the capitalist world economy. For the period under discussion, much of northwestern Europe (England, France, Holland) developed as the first core region. Politically, the states within this part of Europe developed strong central governments, extensive bureaucracies, and large mercenary armies. This permitted the local bourgeoisie to obtain control over international
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