Sociologist who founded world-systems analysis of core, semi-periphery and periphery in The Modern World-System
Born in New York to Polish Jews from Galicia, Wallerstein took all his degrees at Columbia University. He first studied Africa and became president of the African Studies Association in 1973. After Columbia and McGill he was distinguished professor of sociology at Binghamton University from 1976 to 1999, heading the Fernand Braudel Center, and from 2000 a Senior Research Scholar at Yale. In The Modern World-System, published in four volumes between 1974 and 2011, he took from Marx the emphasis on economic factors and from dependency theory the concepts of "core" and "periphery", founding world-systems analysis. He was president of the International Sociological Association in 1994–98.
Also known as: Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein
Activities and affiliations
-
1958–2019
Scholarship and theory
Career Timeline
- 1974The Modern World-System, vol. I
- 1976–1999Professor of sociology at Binghamton, head of the Fernand Braudel Center
- 1994–1998President of the International Sociological Association