The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy 作为资本主义世界经济的现代世界体系.pdf

The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy I M M A N U E L W A L L E R S T E I N OVERVIEW The work of Immanuel Wallerstein epitomizes the argument that to understand the world today we must look back to at least the sixteenth century and the beginning of the capitalist world-economy. This is the key concept in his work. A world- economy assumes a large geographic zone within which there is a division of labor and the significant exchange of goods, capital, and labor. Capitalism is not simply producing for sale on the market, earning a profit, or the existence of wage labor. For Wallerstein the defining characteristic of a capitalist system is the endless ac- cumulation of capital. In this article he also introduces the key concepts of core, periphery, and unequal exchange. He also discusses the concepts of sexism and racism as applied to his world-economy perspective. Questions to Keep in Mind 1. What is the relation between the international system of states and the world-economy? 2. Why does Wallerstein claim a totally free market is not a day-to-day reality? 3. What is meant by core and periphery and how do the concepts relate to the concept of unequal exchange? 4. The various complex relations of the world-economy are beset by two opposite ideological themes—universalism on the one hand and racism and sexism on the other. How are they interrelated and what is their impact on the efficiency of the world-economy and the ability to accumulate capital? The world in which we are now living, the modern What we mean by a world-economy (Braudel’s world-system, had its origins in the