REFLECTIVE ESSAY
1
World-system analysis, also known as world-system theory or world system perspective,
is a macro-scale, multidisciplinary approach to social change as well as world history that
highlights the significance of the world system as the primary unit of social analysis over the
interrelations of nation states (Wallerstein 2004). It refers to the transnational and inter-regional
division of labour, which categorizes the world into three major divisions, namely the core
countries, periphery countries and semi-periphery countries. This theory has been revisited and
reviewed by many scholars of Social Science in their attempt to explain the significant global
phenomena, such as the rise and the fall of nations, social unrest, imperialism, income inequality
and so on (Zgurovsky and Pankratova 2007). As a beginner of Sociological research, we have
been introduced to Immanuel Wallerstein’s seminal work World-System Analysis: An
Introduction to gain a primary understanding and grasp on the teghoretical approach of the
world-system analysis. To this end, the present essay attempts to review Immanuel Wallerstein’s
seminal work World-System Analysis: An Introduction, in order to understand its importance in
the discipline of Social Science.
The discourse of Social Science is essentially reliant on the grand narratives that have
shaped the political outlook of the scholars and researchers over the course of history. One such
grand narrative is the World systems analysis that emerged during the late 20th century and
influenced the discourses of social science to a great extent. Most significantly, the study of
world systems analysis has spawned an array of important institutes that have revolutionized the
core sociological thoughts. For example, the Political Economy of World System (PEWS) of the
American Sociological Association (ASA), The Fernand Braudel Centre at Binghamton
University and their seminal journal Reviews, Institute of Rewsearch on World Systems
(IROWS) at the University of California as well as many other similar research institutes and

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