World-systems analysis an introduction to the thinking of Immanuel Wallerstein

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 20th century the Marxist legacy has always framed capitalism as a structure ready to collapse. In fact, Marx’s own observations about the autophagic character of capitalism and its structural inconsistencies pointed to its “final crisis”, a process inherent in the development of capitalism itself. On this, indeed, there is no doubt. A careful reading of the Marxist works and their numerous theorists is enough to observe that this is not “positivism” or “anti-capitalist Catastrophism”.However, the overcoming capacity of the bourgeoisie (a term almost forgotten nowadays) or the investors (the most modern term) in creating ways out and/or “formulas” to keep the system “healthy” in the face of its structural dilemmas, could not be considered at the beginning of the analysis of capitalism as a system in the 19th century. The reason was obvious: capitalism was still developing.