Republic of the Philippines
SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY
Graduate School
ACCESS, EJC Montilla, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat 9800
Master of Arts in Teaching Social Studies
EMILY G. JAMIO
MAT-SOCSTUD
EDUC 617
REFLECTION PAPER
Group 9
THEORIES OF GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE AND WORLD SYSTEM
THEORY
World-systems theory (also known as world-systems analysis or the
world-systems perspective) is a multidisciplinary approach to world
history and social change which emphasizes the world-system (and
not nation states) as the primary (but not exclusive) unit of social
analysis. "World-system" refers to the inter-regional and
transnational division of labor, which divides the world into core
countries, semi-periphery countries, and the periphery countries. Core
countries focus on higher skill, capital-intensive production, and the rest of
the world focuses on low-skill, labor-intensive production and extraction
of raw materials. This constantly reinforces the dominance of the core
countries. Nonetheless, the system has dynamic characteristics, in part as a
result of revolutions in transport technology, and individual states can gain
or lose their core (semi-periphery, periphery) status over time. This
structure is unified by the division of labor. It is a world-economy rooted in a
capitalist economy. For a time, certain countries become the
world hegemony; during the last few centuries, as the world-system has
extended geographically and intensified economically, this status has passed
from the Netherlands, to the United Kingdom and (most recently) to
the United States.
World-systems theory has been examined by many political theorists
and sociologists to explain the reasons for the rise and fall of states, income
inequality, social unrest, and imperialism. Immanuel Wallerstein has
developed the best-known version of world-systems analysis, beginning in
the 1970s. Wallerstein traces the rise of the capitalist world-economy from
the "long" 16th century (c. 1450–1640). The rise of capitalism, in his view,
was an accidental outcome of the protracted crisis of feudalism. Europe (the
West) used its advantages and gained control over most of the world
economy and presided over the development and spread
of industrialization and capitalist economy, indirectly resulting in unequal
development.
The best-known version of the world-systems approach was developed
by Immanuel Wallerstein. Wallerstein notes that world-systems analysis
calls for a uni-disciplinary historical social science and contends that the
modern disciplines, products of the 19th century, are deeply flawed because
they are not separate logics, as is manifest for example in the de
facto overlap of analysis among scholars of the disciplines.
Wallerstein characterizes the world system as a set of mechanisms,
which redistributes surplus value from the periphery to the core. In his
terminology, the core is the developed, industrialized part of the world, and
the periphery is the "underdeveloped", typically raw materials-exporting,
poor part of the world; the market being the means by which
the core exploits the periphery.
World-Systems theory can be useful in understanding world history
and the core countries' motives for imperialization and other involvements
like the US aid following natural disasters in developing Central American
countries or imposing regimes on other core states. With the interstate
system as a system constant, the relative economic power of the three tiers
points to the internal inequalities that are on the rise in states that appears
to be developing. Some argue that this theory, though, ignores local efforts
of innovation that have nothing to do with the global economy, such as the
labor patterns implemented in Caribbean sugar plantations. Other modern
global topics can be easily traced back to the world-systems theory.
World-systems theory has also been utilized to trace CO2 emissions’
damage to the ozone layer. The levels of world economic entrance and
involvement can affect the damage a country does to the earth. In general,
scientists can make assumptions about a country's CO2 emissions based on
GDP. Higher exporting countries, countries with debt, and countries with
social structure turmoil land in the upper-periphery tier.
Knowledge economy and finance now dominate the industry in core
states while manufacturing has shifted to semi-periphery and periphery
ones. Technology has become a defining factor in the placement of states
into core or semi-periphery versus periphery. Wallerstein's theory leaves
room for poor countries to move into better economic development, but he
also admits that there will always be a need for periphery countries as long
as there are core states who derive resources from them. As a final mark of
modernity, Wallerstein admits that advocates are the heart of this world-
system: “Exploitation and the refusal to accept exploitation as either
inevitable or just constitute the continuing antinomy of the modern era”.
