The current hub of research on world-systems is SUNY Binghamton, at the Fernand
Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations.
Although some researchers pursue this approach around the country, it has had its
greatest impact among intellectuals in the third-world, where Wallerstein is regarded a first-rate intellectual and contributor to the understanding of world-dynamics. Most
publications take place in the Journal of World Systems Research, and in the Review
published by the Fernand Braudel Center. Within the American Sociological
Association, there is a chapter on the Political Economy of the World System. In
addition, Wallerstein was president of the International Sociological Association between
1994 and 1998. Although is attention has moved more towards the philosophy of the
social sciences, Wallerstein continues to be the major figure in world-system research.
After legitimizing historical sociology for its own sake, world-system research has
inspired numerous research programs, with perhaps the most notorious one to date being
the study of long-term business cycles. In addition, it is an approach widely used to talk
about development dynamics and to understand the relationships between the first world
and the third world. As an interdisciplinary theory, it has also drawn the attention of
scholars from several disciplines in the social sciences: history, anthropology, cultural
studies, economic history, development studies.