World-Systems Perspective

The world-systems perspective (WSP) emerged in the early to mid-1970s with the publication of the first volume of Immanuel Wallerstein's The Modern World-System. The paradigm comprises not a set of theories but rather a set of perspectives on how to study macrolevel social change under capitalism over long periods of historical time. The WSP was launched against modernization theory and put forward modern capitalism at the center of its analysis. A large-scale, long-term, and relational perspective on the study of the reproduction of structural inequality under capitalism characterizes the WSP.

First, the WSP emphasizes the large scale and takes the world-systems of nation-states as the unit of analysis. Instead of a series of parallel national processes, as suggested by modernization theory, the WSP posits that capitalist accumulation has always been a world process simultaneously involving all countries and regions in the world. Second, the WSP emphasizes historical continuity and the importance of studying capitalist cycles of expansion and contraction over the long term. For example, Wallerstein traces the origin of modern capitalism to the sixteenth century and examines its development over the next 500 years. Third, building on dependency theory, which stresses interde-pendency between core and periphery countries, the WSP adopts the relational thinking of uneven capitalist development and posits that the extraction of economic surplus from the periphery is crucial for understanding the development at the core.

This entry examines the development of the WSP from the mid-1970s to the present, introducing its main originators and institutions, areas of focus, and key concepts. Then, it reviews some major critiques of the WSP—including academic debates on some of the original formulations by Wallerstein and the new conditions in the world economy after the 1990s that require a rethinking of the WSP's articulation of hierarchical determinants and core–periphery relations. The last section relates the WSP to urban studies, examines why the two fields have taken parallel paths with little interaction between them, and suggests what aspects of the WSP are relevant for advancing urban studies.