Author:
Chase‐Dunn Christopher,Grell‐Brisk Marilyn
Abstract
Immanuel Wallerstein developed a global sociological perspective on modern world history with several colleagues that generated a widening school of scholarly research and theorizing that has been carried on by several generations of sociologists. World‐system analysis has developed in several different directions and has become institutionalized in professional associations, annual conferences, scholarly journals, and an interuniversity consortium. The world‐system perspective was founded and developed by Wallerstein, Terence K. Hopkins, Samir Amin, Andre Gunder Frank, and Giovanni Arrighi. That generation is now gone, along with many others who helped elaborate and develop our comprehension of the modern world‐system. This entry explains the key theoretical elements and the intellectual roots of Wallerstein's world‐system perspective and surveys the several different theoretical and research sub‐schools and developments in related macro‐sociologies that have been inspired by the work of Immanuel Wallerstein and the other progenitors.