A Brief Introduction to World Systems Theory

Aug 12, 20243 min read

Publication date: 12.08.2024

In sociology there are multiple approaches trying to explain how economic development of countries work with the main ones being modernization theory, dependency theory and the most recent approach between the three, world systems theory. While all three of these approaches offers a different understanding of the world, world systems theory also differs from the other two in the sense that it studies the entire world as a single huge system instead of separating and studying it as smaller parts. In other words, while modernization theory and dependency theory both study the systems behind economic development as rules that apply to countries individually, world systems theory maps out a whole worldwide system, argues that the specific development of countries are reliant on their place and relationships within this system and tries to study this system as a whole to understand development instead of studying specific countries. In this article we will try to give a brief overview of the way in which the world is described in the realms of the world systems theory.

Overview

As defined earlier, world systems theory approaches the entire world as one whole system and tries to define the rules of development according to the interactions within this one whole system. In other words, the development of a country according to world systems theory is dependent on the position this country occupies in the grander economic map of the globe. Countries according to this theory are separated into three categories depending on the place they occupy in the larger system. These categories are core countries, periphery countries and semi-periphery countries. Wealth is divided unequally among the countries of these three categories.

These three categories are divided according to what they give and take in the international flow of money, labor and resources within countries.

Core Countries:

Core countries are the dominating economic forces acting as a center which the resources and labor from periphery and semi-periphery countries flow towards. They are countries with strong economies and high level industrialization taking in raw materials and cheap material and exports them to peripheral and semi- periphery countries as expensive, profitable products. We can think of core countries as converters that pull in cheap resources and converts them into profitable products at the expense of periphery and semi-periphery countries.

Periphery Countries:

Periphery countries are at the other side of this scale. They are less developed countries with low income that has to export labor and raw materials for cheap only to buy them as expensive products later on.

Semi-periphery countries:

Semi-periphery countries hold the middle ground between the other two. They act similar to core countries towards peripheral countries but they act similar to peripheral countries towards core countries.

A Historical Approach

While we have briefly mentioned the different categories countries fit within the world systems theory, another thing that differentiates world systems theory is that it doesn’t try to explain this system and the categories within it as naturally occurring phenomenon. While modernization theory and dependency theory both considers their explanations as universal rules of the world like math formulas, world systems theory approaches the system it examines from a historical context and explains the reasons behind the present state of the global system through tracking the historical developments that led to it.

Criticism

World systems theory is criticized in several ways as well. One of these criticisms is its ignorance of cultural factors in development and focusing sheerly on economics instead. It is also criticized for being Eurocentric and centering the impact of Europe at the cost of neglecting the rest of the world. Furthermore, its emphasis on focusing on the entire world is also criticized for sometimes ignoring the unique circumstances of specific countries.

Conclusion

World systems theory offers an understanding of the world as one whole system instead of several different systems separated from each other and examines the different parts of the world not according to a universal set of rules or isolated entities but as entities in relationship with and is a part of the grander world. The economic system which this theory maps out includes core countries, periphery countries and semi-periphery countries, all of which have different positions in the international flow of resources. This theory approaches its questions from a historical perspective. It is also criticized for reasons such as being Eurocentric being too economy focused and sometimes being too broad to focus on specific cases.

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