Le système-monde Wallerstein

Abstract

Immanuel Wallerstein, who died in the summer of 2019, is widely recognized for theorizing an analytical framework about the history of capitalism and its global expansion since the 16th century (the modern world-system). However, his work cannot be reduced to this aspect... Trained as a sociologist and Africanist, he was also a fervent advocate of a social science of history that was inclusive and less marked by oppositions between disciplines. A keen observer of the history and epistemology of the social sciences, he became one of the harshest critics of the Eurocentrism of the latter. Sharing his life as a researcher between the United States and France, he also established in-depth contacts with non-Western authors defending an alternative epistemological vision. As a whole, his academic and committed production also offers avenues for understanding today's and tomorrow's world.

Keywords

• epistemology of the social sciences
• Wallerstein
• world-system
• history of the social sciences
• historical social science