World Systems Theory

Why were the avocados at your local grocery store grown in Mexico? Why were the clothes you're wearing fabricated in Bangladesh? Those countries are so far away—wouldn't it have been cheaper to just make those things locally?

The answer, surprisingly, is no. Labor and resource costs in developing nations can be so cheap that many corporations in the developed world can save a lot of money simply by moving production overseas. But why is this system in place? Immanuel Wallerstein devised world systems theory to try and explain the patterns he observed in the world economy.

World Systems Theory Definition

World systems theory (which you may alternatively see written out as "world-systems theory") is an economic development theory. It seeks to answer the question: why is economic development not equal?

World systems theory deemphasizes the role of individual countries. Instead of the United States as a superpower, for example, world systems theory emphasizes the global economic hegemony of the West in general, of which the United States is a part.

World systems theory also downplays the role of culture in favor of the impact of the global economy. In fact, the global divisions that define world systems theory are very similar, in their own way, to the socioeconomic classes conceived by Karl Marx (namely, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie). World systems theory divides countries into the following categories:

• Core: The group of countries that has economic hegemony over all other countries. They exploit the resources and labor of Periphery countries and are themselves exploited by no other countries.

• Semi-Periphery: Countries exploited by the Core but able to exploit the Periphery.

• Periphery: The group of relatively poor countries that are exploited by the Core and Semi-Periphery, and are themselves unable to exploit other nations—the lowest rung on the ladder.

The Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery are roughly analogous to our socioeconomic concepts of "developed," "developing," and "least-developed," but the important thing to remember is that world systems theory prioritizes economic dominance over any other factor and is a way of discussing spatial variations in economic development.

The flow of resources and labor from the Periphery enables the Core—the countries that make up the world's economic ruling class—to use those resources to create desirable (or even necessary) consumer goods that can be sold to consumers in the Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery. The Core countries can then develop wealthy economies, stable governments, and powerful militaries, allowing the Core to retain its hegemony.

Fig. 1 - The flow of resources as defined by World Systems Theory

That being said, whether through military conflict or new economic developments, the Core can shift. At different points in history, the Core has centered around Southwest Asia, North Africa, China, Mongolia, and different parts of Europe. The modern Core revolves almost entirely around the West as a whole, which is made up of countries that share the cultural heritage of Europe and/or the Roman Empire. Notable exceptions are Japan and South Korea. Remember, "economic class" takes precedence over cultural affiliation in world systems theory.

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory

Political sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019) is credited with formulating our modern concept of world systems theory, though Wallerstein himself resisted the word "theory" and preferred to call his concept "world-systems analysis."

After three years of service in the US Army in the early 1950s, Wallerstein became active in academia. He defined world systems theory in 1974 and continued to develop it throughout his academic career.¹

Wallerstein's world-systems analysis is closely related to and builds upon dependency theory, the idea that resources and labor flow from developing countries to developed countries. This creates a situation where developing countries are perpetually dependent upon developed countries for financial aid—which ensures they remain economically stagnant and which allows developed countries to continue exploiting them. This is essentially how developing countries are integrated into the world system.

World Systems Theory and Migration

World Systems Theory is inherently linked to globalization. It is a world system, after all: a way of explaining how different economies are tied together globally.

The flow of labor from the Periphery to the Core can occur in two major ways: outsourcing and migration. Outsourcing occurs when a business from the Core (or Semi-Periphery) moves its operations to a country in the Periphery (or Semi-Periphery) to take advantage of cheaper labor costs. A job at a factory in the United States might pay, say, US$20 an hour, based on labor laws and job demand. The same job could be outsourced to Mexico, where a company could get away with paying an employee US$1.15 an hour. The money saved on labor more than makes up for any money lost on transportation costs.

In the context of World Systems Theory, migration (specifically voluntary migration—the movement of people by choice rather than force) involves soliciting workers from the Semi-Periphery and Periphery to come into the Core. This includes skilled and unskilled laborers, who may be employed to do work that citizens of the Core are not interested in doing for minimum wage (or less), such as plantation farming or custodial work. But it also includes highly skilled professionals like doctors, lawyers, engineers, and IT specialists: the Core reaps the benefits of their skill sets without having had to invest any money into their education. Nigerian doctors, for example, often immigrate to the UK in search of better wages.

World Systems Theory Example

Evidence of World Systems Theory is likely staring you right in the face, as you are almost certainly reading this explanation on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. The device you are using was probably designed by a business in the Core (i.e., headquartered in the US, Japan, or South Korea) but was likely assembled using labor and resources from the Semi-Periphery or Periphery (like China, Vietnam, Indonesia, or India).

Strengths and Weaknesses of World Systems Theory

World Systems Theory is a straightforward and intuitive way of visualizing economic relationships between different countries. It's a simple method of explaining how and where resources are flowing. Most of the criticism of World System Theory stems from the fact that nations are placed into "classes" based purely on their economic development—an action that, to many, seems arbitrary and simplistic.

Just as Karl Marx summarized the paradigm of human history as little more than a grand struggle between economic classes, so too did Wallerstein posit that the crux of international human interaction is economic in nature. This view of history and of global interactions has been criticized for a variety of reasons, including:

• World Systems Theory places too little emphasis on the autonomy of individual countries.

• World Systems Theory places too little emphasis on the autonomy of a business from its government.

• World Systems Theory disregards or downplays factors like culture, ideology, and religion in the establishment of regional and global hegemonies.

• World Systems Theory assumes that the single greatest impetus of human behavior is the accumulation of wealth.

• World Systems Theory assumes economic development obstacles must be external (i.e., imposed by the Core onto the Periphery).

• World Systems Theory is mostly useful at describing our modern global capitalist system; it can retroactively be applied to older historical hegemonies but misses many important development factors.

Some Marxists reject World Systems Theory because it does not emphasize internal economic class struggles.

Consider the following:

• Can you think of any historical military conflicts that were economically injudicious but were deemed necessary for cultural or religious reasons?

• Can you think of any countries in the Core that have less in common with each other than they do with countries in different classes?

• Can you think of any countries in the Periphery whose economic development is being impeded by internal factors that are not being imposed or exacerbated by the Core?

• Can you think of any groups or countries that have essentially "opted out" of the world system?

• Can you think of any homegrown Periphery-based companies that are exporting their own high-cost consumer goods to the Core?

• And, can you think of any Core countries that are doing very little exploiting or any Periphery countries that aren't being heavily exploited?

Fig. 3 - The Gobi Corporation, based in Mongolia (a Periphery country), exports expensive cashmere products to the Core, "exploiting" the Core for profits

World Systems Theory is convenient for visualizing trade relations but is, perhaps, too simplistic to define a true "world system." As we move forward, it is likely that geographers will continue to tinker with World Systems Theory to keep Wallerstein's contribution to human geography relevant.