Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein

"Key essays from the "prolific, provocative, 'big-picture theorist'" (Booklist) and originator of world-systems analysis. Immanuel Wallerstein is one of the most innovative social scientists of his generation. Past president of the International Sociological Association, he has had a major influence on the development of social thought throughout the world, and his books are translated into every major language. The Essential Wallerstein brings together for the first time the full range of his scholarship. This comprehensive collection of essays offers a unique overview of this seminal thinker's work, showing the development of his thought: from his groundbreaking research on contemporary African politics and social change, to his study of the modern world-system, to his current essays on the new structures of knowledge emerging from the crisis of the capitalist world-economy. His singular focus on the way in which change in one part of the globe affects the whole is all the more relevant as the world grows increasingly interdependent. The Essential Wallerstein is an ideal introduction to the extensive body of work from a thinker who helped introduce globally sensitive thinking to the field of social science."--Pub. desc.

The founder of world-systems analysis explores what we can expect in the twenty-first century. The twentieth century has witnessed both the triumphs and failures of the dreams that have informed the modern world. In Utopistics, Immanuel Wallerstein argues that the global order that nourished those dreams is on the brink of disintegration. Pointing to the globalization of commerce, the changing nature of work and the family, the failures of traditional liberal ideology, and the danger of profound environmental crises, the founder of world-systems analysis argues that the nation-state system no longer works. The next twenty-five to fifty years will see the final breakdown of that system, and a time of great conflicts and disorder. It will also be a period in which individual and collective action will have a greater impact on the future than has been possible for 500 years. Utopistics distills Wallerstein's hugely influential work on the modern world-system in an accessible way. This fascinating and provocative look into our collective political destiny poses urgent questions for anyone concerned with social change in the next millennium. -- Description from (Nov. 2, 2011).

>In his latest work, the celebrated social thinker Immanuel Wallerstein develops a thorough-going critique of the legacy of nineteenth-century social science for social thought in the late twentieth century. We have to “unthink” — radically revise and discard — many of the presumptions which still remain the foundation of dominant perspectives today. - [back cover](

A signal work in contemporary race theory and the study of nationalism, Race, Nation, Class brings the conditions of presentday racism into focus. Situating racial and ethnic relations within the social structures maintained by nationalist ideologies, class interests, and veiled conflicts, Balibar and Wallerstein illustrate racism's particularity as both symptom and tool in capitalism's latest stage of development. Packed with clear-sighted historical analysis and productive debates, this book marks a major shift in Western Marxism towards a deeper understanding of social strife. Àn important collection of ideas which should be read by anyone at all concerned about the pervasiveness of racist ideologies in today's societies.'--Chartist.

An examination of the beginnings and early conditions of the European economic system elucidates the social effects of division of labor, class-formation, and international commerce.