In World-Systems Analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein provides a concise, accessible, and comprehensive introduction to the revolutionary approach to understanding the history and development of the modern world that he pioneered thirty years ago. Since Wallerstein first developed world-systems analysis, it has become a widely utilized methodology within the historical social sciences and a common point of reference within discussions of global processes. Now, for the first time in one volume, Wallerstein offers a succinct summary of world-systems analysis and a clear outline of the modern world-system, describing the structures of knowledge upon which it is based, its mechanisms, and its future. Intended for general readers, students, and experienced practitioners alike, this book presents the definitive overview of world-systems analysis by its original architect. Wallerstein explains the defining characteristics of world-systems analysis: its emphasis on world-systems rather than nation-states, insistence on the need to consider historical processes as they unfold over long periods of time, and demand that bodies of knowledge usually viewed as distinct from one another - such as history, political science, economics, and sociology - be combined and considered within a single analytical framework. He describes the world-system as a social reality comprised of interconnected nations, firms, households, classes, and identity groups of all kinds. He identifies and highlights the significance of the key moments in the evolution of the modern world-system: the development of a global capitalist economy in the sixteenth-century, the beginning of two centuries of liberal centrism in the French Revolution of 1789, and the undermining of that centrism in the global revolts of 1968, which triggered a terminal structural crisis within the modern world-system.

本书论述了资本主义世界经济体系，即现代世界体系的起源与发展的历程。现代世界体系发端于欧洲的部分地区，后来不断发展，逐渐把世界其他一些地区纳入其中，直至覆盖全球。作者认为，21世界中期资本主义世界体系将让位于后继的体系（一个或多个）。我们不能预测他会是一个什么样的体系，但能通过我们目前政治的和道德的活动来影响其结果。本书享誉西方学术界，是西方大学生必读的参考书。它不是一般的世界近现代史著作，而是一部整体地阐述近5个半世纪世界历史进程的综合性宏观论著。