WSNers,
I should have attached this first time around, this is reply I sent
to Robert Strayer. As alwasy, add, substract, contradict, debate.
(His request came when I was in the midst of putting together some stuff
like this anyway).
tdh
------
TO: Robert Strayer, and other interested in WST
FROM: Thomas D. Hall, DePauw University, THALL@DEPAUW.EDU 317-658-4519
RE: World-Systems
DATE: August 10, 1995
Robert,
The bad news is that what you are looking for does not exist.
The good news is that there are a few things you can use.
David Fahey at Miami of Ohio has done this, and may have better
advice, since he has taught what you are describing. I'm a
sociologist who does WST all the time, so tend to come at
somewhat differently.
In terms of introductions that are in print, the three most
useful are:
Shannon, Thomas R. 1989. _An Introduction to the World-System
Perspective_. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
and
Chirot, Daniel. 1986. _Social Change in the Modern Era_. New
York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1979. _The Capitalist World-Economy_.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shannon has new edition due out in Jan. '96. I have used his
basic chapters (2, 3, 4) in introductory sociology with
considerable success. They give a basic account, and a quick
walk through world-system history. For MA students this could be
read and discussed in a week or two and would get most, but not
all, of the issues.
Chirot's book, is very Weberian and is a rework of his out of
print _Social Change in the Twentieth Century_. The middle
chapters still do a good job of summarizing world-system history.
IW's '79 collection of essays contains a number of his classics,
including his famous 1974 article (as Ch. 1) that summarized his
first volume of _The Modern World-System_. That is a good
start, but can be tough sledding to readers who are not
accostomed to fighting a number of side battles in the course of
making a complex argument.
Here are some other sources:
Parts of Sanderson's new change book discuss WST cogently:
Sanderson, Stephen K. 1995. Social Transformations: A General
Theory of Historical Development. London: Basil Blackwell.
His forthcoming collection which reprints a special issue of
_Comparative Civilizations Review_ (#30, 1994) [now out of
print!] with some new work, but will probably not be ready in
time for you to use it.:
Sanderson, Stephen K., ed. 1996. Civilizations and World-
Systems: Two Approaches to the Study of World-Historical
Change. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Chase-Dunn, Christopher and Peter Grimes (1995). "World-Systems
Analysis." Annual Review of Sociology 21:387-417.
Will be out soon, and reviews recent research in WST and provides
a good overview.
In my view the "masterworks of WST" include:
Arrighi, Giovanni. 1994. The Long Twentieth Century. London:
Verso.
Chase-Dunn, Christopher. 1989. Global Formation: Structures of
the World-Economy. London: Basil Blackwell.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974b. The Modern World-System:
Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of European World-
Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic
Press.
_____. 1980. The Modern World-System II: Mercantilism and the
Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750. New
York: Academic Press.
_____. 1989. The Modern World-System III: The Second Era of
Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840s.
New York: Academic Press.
If you want stuff on the ancient or precapitalist world-systems
the two best collections are:
Chase-Dunn, Christopher and Thomas D. Hall, eds. 1991b.
Core/Periphery Relations in Precapitalist Worlds. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press.
Frank, Andre Gunder and Barry K. Gills, eds. 1993. The World
System: Five Hundred Years of Five Thousand? London:
Routledge.
Unfortunately, our book is out of print. Frank & Gills is very
expensive hardback, although he is now dickering with
Routledge to get out a paperback...
Immodestly, a good overview (but already missing some new work)
of the ancient or precapitalist world-systems is:
Hall, Thomas D. and Christopher Chase-Dunn. 1994. "Forward into
the Past: World-Systems Before 1500." Sociological Forum
9:2:295-306.
It at least is short, but has a long bib.