World-Systems Theory
Updated 2026-08-13
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
World-systems theory, developed by Immanuel Wallerstein, treats the capitalist world economy as a single system stratified into three positions: the core, which holds high-technology and high-profit production; the periphery, which supplies raw materials and cheap labour; and the semi-periphery, which occupies an intermediate position and both exploits and is exploited. The core proposition is that inequality is reproduced by the structure of the system rather than by the attributes of individual countries. The key qualification is that positions are historical rather than permanent, since some regions have moved between tiers.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Position locate: identify where a country or region sits within the world system. - Terms of trade: examine how its position shapes the prices it receives and pays. - Lock-in check: identify the mechanisms that keep it in its current tier and the routes out.
Anchor fast decisions
Production is organized so that high-value activities concentrate in the core while low-value extraction and assembly spread across the periphery, and the exchange between them transfers surplus upward. The semi-periphery stabilizes the system by providing a tier that others can fall into or rise from. Because the hierarchy is a property of the system rather than of any country, individual effort alone does not change a position.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-systems_theoryverified
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