The Approach
World-system theory is a macrosociological perspective that seeks to explain the
dynamics of the “capitalist world economy” as a “total social system”. Its first major
articulation, and classic example of this approach, 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. 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. Because of the main concepts
and intellectual building blocks of world-system theory –which will be outlined later–, it
has had a major impact and perhaps its more warm reception in the developing world.
Where is world-system theory positioned in the intellectual world? It falls at the same
time, into the fields of historical sociology and economic history. In addition, because of
its emphasis on development and unequal opportunities across nations, it has been
embraced by development theorists and practitioners. This combination makes the
world-system project both a political and an intellectual endeavor. Wallerstein’s approach
is one of praxis, in which theory and practice are closely interrelated, and the objective of
intellectual activity is to create knowledge that uncovers hidden structures and allows
oneself to act upon the world and change it. “Man’s ability to participate intelligently in
the evolution of his own system is dependent on his ability to perceive the whole” (p. 10).
World-system research is largely qualitative, although early on Wallerstein rejected the
distinction between nomothetic and idiographic methodologies to understand the world.
For Wallerstein, there is an objective world which can be quantitatively understood, but it
is, no matter for how long it has existed, a product of history. But to the most part, his
methods are associated with history and with interpretive sociology. His work is
methodologically somewhere in between Marx and Weber, both of whom were important
inspirations for his own work.