Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (; born September
28, 1930) is an American sociologist, economic
historian and world-systems analyst, arguably
best known for his development of the general
approach in sociology which led to the emergence
of his world-systems approach. He publishes
bimonthly syndicated commentaries on world
affairs. He has been a Senior Research Scholar
at Yale University since 2000.
== Early life and education ==
Having grown up in a politically conscious
family, Wallerstein first became interested
in world affairs as a teenager while living
in New York City. He received all three of
his degrees from Columbia University: a BA
in 1951, an MA in 1954, and a PhD in 1959.
However, throughout his life, Wallerstein
has also studied at other universities around
the world, including Oxford University from
1955–56,Université libre de Bruxelles,
Universite Paris 7 Denis Diderot, and Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México.
From 1951 to 1953 Wallerstein served in the
U.S. Army. After returning from his service,
he wrote his master's thesis on McCarthyism
as a phenomenon of American political culture,
which was widely cited and which, Wallerstein
states, "confirmed my sense that I should
consider myself, in the language of the 1950s,
a 'political sociologist'". Eleven years later,
on May 25, 1964, he married Beatrice Friedman;
the couple have one daughter.
== Academic career ==
Wallerstein's academic and professional career
began at Columbia University, where he started
as an instructor and later became an associate
professor of sociology from 1958 to 1971.
During his time there, he served as a prominent
supporter of the students during the Columbia
University protests of 1968. In 1971, he moved
from New York to Montreal, where he taught
at McGill University for five years.Originally,
Wallerstein's prime area of intellectual concern
was not American politics, but politics of
the non-European world, most especially those
of India and Africa. For two decades, Wallerstein
served as an Africa scholar, publishing numerous
books and articles, and in 1973, became president
of the African Studies Association.In 1976,
Wallerstein was offered the unique opportunity
to pursue a new avenue of research, and so
became head of the Fernand Braudel Center
for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems
and Civilization at Binghamton University
in New York, whose mission is "to engage in
the analysis of large-scale social change
over long periods of historical time." The
Center was opened with the publishing support
of a new journal Review (of which Wallerstein
was the founding editor), and would go on
to produce a body of work that "went a long
way toward invigorating sociology and its
sister disciplines, especially history and
political-economy." Wallerstein would serve
as a distinguished professor of sociology
at Binghamton until his retirement in 1999.Throughout
his career, Wallerstein has held visiting
professor posts at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, British Columbia, and Amsterdam,
among numerous others. He has been awarded
multiple honorary titles, intermittently served
as Directeur d'études associé at the École
des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in
Paris, and was president of the International
Sociological Association between 1994 and
1998. Similarly, during the 1990s, he chaired
the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring
of the Social Sciences, whose object was to
indicate a direction for social scientific
inquiry for the next 50 years.Since 2000,
Wallerstein has served as a Senior Research
Scholar at Yale University. He is also a member
of the Advisory Editors Council of the Social
Evolution & History journal. In 2003, he received
the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award
from the American Sociological Association,
and in 2004 was awarded with the Gold Kondratieff
Medal by the International N. D. Kondratieff
Foundation and the Russian Academy of Natural
Sciences (RAEN).
== Theory ==
Wallerstein began as an expert of post-colonial
African affairs, which he selected as the
focus of his studies after attending international
youth conferences in 1951 and 1952. His publications
were almost exclusively devoted to this until
the early 1970s, when he began to distinguish
himself as a historian and theorist of the
global capitalist economy on a macroscopic
level. His early criticism of global capitalism
and championship of "anti-systemic movements"
have recently made him an éminence grise
with the anti-globalization movement within
and outside of the academic community, along
with Noam Chomsky and Pierre Bourdieu.
His most important work, The Modern World-System,
has appeared in four volumes since 1974, with
additional planned volumes still forthcoming.
In it, Wallerstein draws on several intellectual
influences:
Karl Marx, whom he follows in emphasizing
underlying economic factors and their dominance
over ideological factors in global politics,
and whose economic thinking he has adopted
with such ideas as the dichotomy between capital
and labor. He also criticizes the traditional
Marxian view of world economic development
through stages such as feudalism and capitalism,
and its belief in the accumulation of capital,
dialectics, and more;
Dependency theory, most obviously its concepts
of "core" and "periphery".However, Wallerstein
categorizes Frantz Fanon, Fernand Braudel,
and Ilya Prigogine as the three individuals
that have had the greatest impact "in modifying
my line of argument (as opposed to deepening
a parallel line of argument)." In The Essential
Wallerstein, he chronologically lists the
three individuals and describes their influence
on his views:
Frantz Fanon: "Fanon represented for me the
expression of the insistence by those disenfranchised
by the modern world‑system that they have
a voice, a vision, and a claim not merely
to justice but to intellectual valuation."
Fernand Braudel: who had described the development
and political implications of extensive networks
of economic exchange in the European world
between 1400 and 1800, "more than anyone else
made me conscious of the central importance
of the social construction of time and space
and its impact on our analyses."
Ilya Prigogine: "Prigogine forced me to face
the implications of a world in which certainties
did not exist - but knowledge still did."Wallerstein
has also stated that another major influence
on his work was the "world revolution" of
1968. He was on the faculty of Columbia University
at the time of the student uprising there,
and participated in a faculty committee that
attempted to resolve the dispute. He has argued
in several works that this revolution marked
the end of "liberalism" as a viable ideology
in the modern world system. He also argued
that the end of the Cold War, rather than
marking a triumph for liberalism, indicates
that the current system has entered its 'end'
phase; a period of crisis that will end only
when it is replaced by another system. Wallerstein
anticipated the growing importance of the
North–South divide at a time when the main
world conflict was the Cold War..He has argued
since 1980 that the United States is a "hegemon
in decline". He was often mocked for making
this claim during the 1990s, but since the
Iraq War this argument has become more widespread.
Overall, Wallerstein sees the development
of the capitalist world economy as detrimental
to a large proportion of the world's population.
Similar to Marx, Wallerstein predicts that
capitalism will be replaced by a socialist
economy.Wallerstein has both participated
in and written about the World Social Forum.
=== The Modern World-System ===
Wallerstein's first volume on world-systems
theory (The Modern World System, 1974) was
predominantly written during a year at the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences (now affiliated with Stanford University).
In it, he argues that the modern world system
is distinguished from empires by its reliance
on economic control of the world order by
a dominating capitalist center (core) in systemic
economic and political relation to peripheral
and semi-peripheral world areas.Wallerstein
rejects the notion of a "Third World", claiming
that there is only one world connected by
a complex network of economic exchange relationships
— i.e., a "world-economy" or "world-system"
in which the "dichotomy of capital and labor"
and the endless "accumulation of capital"
by competing agents (historically including,
but not limited, to nation-states) account
for frictions. This approach is known as the
world-system theory.
Wallerstein locates the origin of the modern
world-system in 16th-century Western Europe
and the Americas. An initially slight advance
in capital accumulation in Britain, the Dutch
Republic, and France, due to specific political
circumstances at the end of the period of
feudalism, set in motion a process of gradual
expansion. As a result, only one global network
or system of economic exchange exists in modern
society. By the 19th century, virtually every
area on earth was incorporated into the capitalist
world-economy.
The capitalist world-system is far from homogeneous
in cultural, political, and economic terms;
instead, it is characterized by fundamental
differences in social development, accumulation
of political power, and capital. Contrary
to affirmative theories of modernization and
capitalism, Wallerstein does not conceive
of these differences as mere residues or irregularities
that can and will be overcome as the system
evolves.
A lasting division of the world into core,
semi-periphery, and periphery is an inherent
feature of world-system theory. Other theories,
partially drawn on by Wallerstein, leave out
the semi-periphery and do not allow for a
grayscale of development. Areas which have
so far remained outside the reach of the world-system
enter it at the stage of "periphery". There
is a fundamental and institutionally stabilized
"division of labor" between core and periphery:
while the core has a high level of technological
development and manufactures complex products,
the role of the periphery is to supply raw
materials, agricultural products, and cheap
labor for the expanding agents of the core.
Economic exchange between core and periphery
takes place on unequal terms: the periphery
is forced to sell its products at low prices,
but has to buy the core's products at comparatively
high prices. Once established, this unequal
state tends to stabilize itself due to inherent,
quasi-deterministic constraints. The statuses
of core and periphery are not exclusive and
fixed geographically, but are relative to
each other. A zone defined as "semi-periphery"
acts as a periphery to the core and as a core
to the periphery. At the end of the 20th century,
this zone would comprise Eastern Europe, China,
Brazil, and Mexico. It is important to note
that core and peripheral zones can co-exist
in the same location.
One effect of the expansion of the world-system
is the commodification of things, including
human labor. Natural resources, land, labor,
and human relationships are gradually being
stripped of their "intrinsic" value and turned
into commodities in a market which dictates
their exchange value.
In the last two decades, Wallerstein has increasingly
focused on the intellectual foundations of
the modern world-system and the pursuit of
universal theories of human behavior. In addition,
he has shown interest in the "structures of
knowledge" defined by the disciplinary division
between sociology, anthropology, political
science, economics, and the humanities, which
he himself regards as Eurocentric. In analyzing
them, he has been highly influenced by the
"new sciences" of theorists like Ilya Prigogine.
=== Criticism ===
Wallerstein's theory has provoked harsh criticism,
not only from neo-liberal or conservative
circles, but even from some historians who
say that some of his assertions may be historically
incorrect. Some critics suggest that Wallerstein
tends to neglect the cultural dimension of
the modern world-system, arguing that there
is a world system of global culture which
is independent from the economic processes
of capitalism; this reduces it to what some
call "official" ideologies of states which
can then easily be revealed as mere agencies
of economic interest. Nevertheless, his analytical
approach, along with that of associated theorists
such as Andre Gunder Frank, Terence Hopkins,
Samir Amin, Christopher Chase-Dunn, Thomas
D. Hall and Giovanni Arrighi, has made a significant
impact on the field and has established an
institutional base devoted to the general
approach of intellectual inquiry. Their ideology
has also attracted strong interest from the
anti-globalization movement.
== Terms and definitions ==
Capitalist world-system
Wallerstein's definition follows dependency
theory, which intended to combine the developments
of the different societies since the 16th
century in different regions into one collective
development. The main characteristic of his
definition is the development of a global
division of labour, including the existence
of independent political units (in this case,
states) at the same time. There is no political
center, compared to global empires like the
Roman Empire; instead, the capitalist world-system
is identified by the global market economy.
It is divided into core, semi-periphery, and
periphery regions, and is ruled by the capitalist
method of production.
Core/periphery
Defines the difference between developed and
developing countries, characterized e.g. by
power or wealth. The core refers to developed
countries, the periphery to the dependent
developing countries. The main reason for
the position of the developed countries is
economic power.
Semi-periphery
Defines states that are located between core
and periphery, and who benefit from the periphery
through unequal exchange relations. At the
same time, the core benefits from the semi-periphery
through unequal exchange relations.
Quasi-monopolies
Defines a kind of monopoly where there is
more than one service provider for a particular
good/service. Wallerstein claims that quasi-monopolies
are self-liquidating because new sellers go
into the market by exerting political pressure
to open markets to competition.Kondratiev
wavesA Kondratiev wave is defined as a cyclical
tendency in the world's economy. It is also
known as a supercycle. Wallerstein argues
that global wars are tied to Kondratiev waves.
According to him, global conflicts occur as
the summer phase of a wave begins, which is
when production of goods and services around
the world are on an upswing.
== Honors and fellowships ==
International Sociological Association Award
for Excellence in Research and Practice, 2014
N.D. Kondratieff Gold Medal, Russian Academy
of Natural Sciences, 2005
Distinguished Fellow, St. John’s College,
University of British Columbia, 2004–present
Centro de Estudios, Información y Documentación
Immanuel Wallerstein, Univ. de la Tierra-Chiapas
y el CIDECI Las Casas, 2004–present
Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award,
American Sociological Association, 2003
Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award,
Political Economy of the World-System Section
of American Sociological Association, 2003
Premio Carlos Marx 2003, Fondo Cultural Tercer
Mundo, Mexico
Leerstoel (Chair) Immanuel Wallerstein, University
of Ghent, 2002- [Inaugural Lecture by IW on
Mar. 11, 2002]
Fellow, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
1998
IPE Distinguished Scholar, International Studies
Association, 1998
Gulbenkian Professor of Science and Technology,
1994
Medal of the University, University of Helsinki,
1992
Wei Lun Visiting Professor, Chinese University
of Hong Kong, 1991
University Award for Excellence in Scholarship,
Binghamton University, 1991
George A. Miller Visiting Professor, University
of Illinois-Urbana, 1989
Officier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France,
1984
Sorokin Prize (for Distinguished Scholarship),
American Sociological Association, 1975
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences, Stanford, 1970–71
Ford Fellow in Economics, Political Science
and Sociology, 1970–71
Foreign Area Fellowship, Africa, 1955–57
Phi Beta Kappa, 1951
== Works ==
== See also
