Session 16: Immanuel Wallerstein and the Rise of Capitalism

Immanuel Wallerstein, a renowned sociologist, draws a historic account that explains the rise of capitalism in the modern era. Starting from the feudal era, he outlines the path that led to the development of the modern capitalist states as we see them today. Outlining the rise of capitalism, Wallerstein highlights the functioning of the modern capitalist system, explaining the reasons that he predicts will lead to its decline and subsequently the rise of “social states”. The feudal economies seemed to thrive on rather simplistic economic concepts, therefore the chances for their growth were rather limited. The rise of capitalism according to Wallerstein can be traced in the demise of Feudal economies, which could only grow to a certain extent, therefore a much more complex, accommodating economic system was needed to cope up with the growth of the economies. Capitalism provided this opportunity through increased trade, industrialization and specialization. This, according to Wallerstein led to the creation of states that could be divided into three categories; The Exploiters (The Core), The Exploited (The Peripherals) and the In-Betweens (Semi-Peripherals). States that held powerful militia and were at latter stages of growth, constituted the core, these states needed a large resource base to cater to their economic growth. The peripheral states were the exploited states that used to supply these resources, often forcibly (EIC in India, African Slavery) to the Core states. There are no fixed positions, according to Wallerstein, in the system, therefore core states can decline as in the case of Russia to Semi-peripherals, and States can rise to become hegemons. This, however does not limit the exploitation of the peripheral states. Wallerstein defines the world economy of today as capitalist, outlining their functioning, he argues the lack of a socialist system, but does provide reasons for its establishment by highlighting the conflicts that the Modern Capitalist system has, this conflict is perhaps the main reason why capitalism, according to Wallerstein may give way to a “better” system.