145
See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Roland Robertson 146–47 ■ Saskia Sassen 164–65 ■ Arjun Appadurai 166–69 ■
David Held 170–71
LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD
which produce complex products
using technologically advanced
methods of production. The core
nations rely on periphery nations
for raw materials, agricultural
products, and cheap labor. Semi-
periphery nations have a mix of the
social and economic characteristics
of the other categories.
The unequal nature of this
economic exchange between the
core and the periphery means thatcore nations sell their developed
commodities at higher prices than
those from the periphery. Those
nations in the semi-periphery
also benefit from unequal trade
relationships with the periphery,
but are often at a disadvantage
with regards to their economic
exchanges with the core.
This world-system, Wallerstein
suggests, is relatively stable and
unlikely to change. While nations
can move “up” or “down” within the
system, the military and economic
power of states in the core, along
with the aspirations of those in the
semi-periphery, make it unlikely
that global relationships will be
restructured to be more equitable.
Wallerstein’s ideas on the
modern world-system, originating
in the 1970s, predate the literature
on globalization, which only
emerged as a central concern
of sociology from the late 1980s
and early 1990s. His work is
therefore recognized as an early
and important contribution to
economic globalization and its
sociopolitical consequences. ■Global patterns of wealth and inequality
Social scientists originally
discussed global inequalities
using the terms “First World”
(developed Western nations),
“Second World” (industrialized
communist nations), and “Third
World” (colonized nations).
Nations were ranked according
to their levels of capitalist
enterprise, industrialization, and
urbanization, and the argument
was that poorer nations simply
needed more of the economic
features of developed societies
to escape poverty.Wallerstein rejected the idea
that the Third World was merely
underdeveloped. He focused
on the economic process and
links underpinning the global
economy to show that, although
a nation’s position in the world-
system was initially a product
of history and geography,
the market forces of global
capitalism serve to accentuate
the differences between
the core and the periphery
nations, thereby effectively
institutionalizing inequality.The modern world-system is based
on a classlike grouping of nations, and
results in unequal economic and trade
relationships between those nations.Periphery nations are powerless
and dispossessed; they have narrow
economic bases in agriculture and
minerals, and provide the semi-
periphery and core nations with
commodities, raw materials, and
cheap labor.Semi-periphery nations have
intermediate levels of affluence and
some autonomy and economic diversity.Core nations are developed,
industrialized, and affluent; they dominate
at the heart of the modern world-system.produced an accumulation of
capital that was reinvested in
expanding the economic system.
By the late 19th century, most of
the world had been incorporated
into this system of commodity
production and exchange.
The global stage
Wallerstein’s ideas on the origin
of modern capitalism extend the
theories of Karl Marx to the global
stage. Marx focused on how
capitalism produces a struggle over
“surplus value,” which refers to the
fact that a worker produces more
value in a day than he or she is paid
for, and this extra value translates
as profit for the employer. Under
capitalism, the working class is
exploited by wealthy social elites
for the surplus value of their labor.
Wallerstein develops this idea
to focus on those who benefit from
global commodity chains, arguing
that there are classlike groupings
of nations in the world-system,
which he labels “core,” “semi-
periphery,” and “periphery.” Core
nations are developed societies,