CHAPTER 4
Ethnicity and World-Systems
Analysis
Thomas D. Hall
Introduction
In the early 1970s, sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein started writing about world-system
analysis to account for the origins and processes of modern capitalism and the inter-
connections of what were then labeled the First, Second, and Third Worlds (2004, 2011
[1974]). The modern world-system arose in western Europe about 500 years ago, during
the “long sixteenth century” (1450–1640), based on capitalist trade networks that tran-
scended state boundaries. Wallerstein called this the capitalist world-economy. The drive
to accumulate capital via production for exchange led to increasing competition among
producers for markets, materials, and labor. Repeated crises of overproduction led to
expansion and incorporation of further regions into the expanding world-economy.
The system differentiated between three interrelated types of societies. “Core” societies
specialized in relatively technical industrial production, distribution, and administrative
services, and had relatively strong states, a strong bourgeoisie, and a large labor class. Core
states became heavily involved in the affairs of non-core societies. At the other extreme,
in the periphery, were societies that concentrated on the production of raw materials or
simpler industries; had weak states, a small bourgeoisie, and a large peasant class; and were
heavily influenced by core states. The remaining societies constituted a semiperiphery,
which shared some characteristics of the core and periphery. Semiperipheral societies
often were rising peripheral societies, or declining core societies.
A major claim in world-system analysis is that the system must be studied as a whole.
Social change (encompassing political, economic, and cultural changes) in any compo-
nent of the system—nations, states, regions, ethnic groups, classes—must begin with the
context of that component within the system. Equally important, changes in compo-
nents impact the overall system. Thus, there is a dual research agenda in world-system
A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean, First Edition. Edited by Jeremy McInerney.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.