Outline the elements of Immanuel Wallerstein's world systems theory of global inequality

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

World systems theory suggests that what exists under capitalism is a truly global

system held together by economic ties. From this approach, global inequality does not

emerge solely as a result of the exploitation of one country by another. Instead,

economic domination involves a complex world system in which the industrialized, high-

income nations benefit from other nations and exploit their citizens and resources.

Wallerstein suggests that a country's place within the global economy is the key feature

in determining how economic development takes place in that nation. According to

world systems theory, the capitalist world economy is a global system divided into a

hierarchy of three major types of nations—core, semiperipheral, and peripheral. Core

nations are dominant capitalist centers characterized by high levels of industrialization

and urbanization. Core nations such as the United States, Japan, and Germany possess

most of the world's capital and technology. Even more importantly for their position of

domination, they exert massive control over world trade and economic agreements

across national boundaries. Semiperipheral nations are more developed than peripheral

nations but less developed than core nations. Nations in this category typically provide

labor and raw materials to core nations within the world system. These nations

constitute a midpoint between the core and peripheral nations? this midpoint promotes

the stability and legitimacy of the three-tiered world economy. These nations include

South Korea and Taiwan in East Asia, Mexico and Brazil in Latin America, India in

South Asia, and Nigeria and South Africa in Africa. Most low-income countries in

Africa, South America, and the Caribbean are peripheral nations—nations that are

dependent on core nations for capital, have little or no industrialization (other than what

may be brought in by core nations), and have uneven patterns of urbanization.

According to Wallerstein, the wealthy in peripheral nations benefit from the labor of

poor workers and from their own economic relations with core nation capitalists, whom

they uphold in order to maintain their own wealth and position.