The Three P’s
When we think of a hierarchy we do not think of the economic system that we live in today. The World Systems theory is what brings this hierarchy to light. This theory was developed by Immanuel Wallerstein in the 1970’s it is also important to note that Wallerstein was influenced by Marxism and dependency theory when creating the World Systems theory that I will be writing about in this post. WST, follows the rise of the capitalist world economy, “what we mean by a world-economy is a large geographic zone within which there is a division of labor and hence significant internal exchange of basic or essential goods as well as flows of capital and labor. A defining feature of a world-economy is that it is not bounded by a unitary political structure.” (Wallerstein 23) Even though it is not bounded by a unitary political structure, some States would have fallen without it. The irony with a capitalist political structure is that,“conversely, a capitalist system cannot exist within any framework except that of a world-economy. We shall see that a capitalist system requires a very special relationship between economic producers and the holders of political power.” (Wallerstein 24) So when capitalism and this world-economy go hand to hand with the WTS what does that mean for the world?
When talking about the WTS we talk about three types of states, core periphery states, semi periphery states and periphery states. These different states play into the economy and the idea of a hierarchy. Core periphery is a state which has the means(money+power) to produce and import items that they do not have or have to make profit. These states are able trade goods in exchange for the goods the state produces that another state does not have. Semi periphery is a state that may have some economic means,some money with little power, some resources but, not necessarily the funds to extract the resources that the state has. Periphery states may have the resources but do not have the money or power to fund, however, periphery states do have the advantages of having resources that core periphery and semi periphery states need.
Now this may seem confusing to those who are reading so let me help you fix that. An example of each type of periphery state are; a core periphery state is the United States(located in North America), a semi periphery state is Chile(located in Latin America/South America) and a periphery state is Chad(Located Africa). When we flip the switch on our wall or pull a string to turn on a light to see we use a lightbulb. Inside that lightbulb is copper wiring and Chile natural resource is an abundance of copper. On the other hand, Chad has Nitrate, which is used for fertilization, in which both Chile and the United States have agriculture that needs protecting. Chad also has many other resources(iron,tin,gold ores etc.) that can not be extracted because they do not have the means. The United States will buy the copper from Chile because they need it for the lightbulbs, in some cases the US will extract the resources from Chile because it may not have the means too or because the means that Chile has is too slow(Cannot afford more workers, do not have any many to fund it). Those lightbulbs, however, wont be made in the United States, they will be made in another country where, there may be slave labor and something worse(from an westerners prospective),child labor. It is because the United States has the means to buy from Chile and also pay workers in a foreign country to produce this lightbulb with the copper that it is a Core state. Chad has some power in Africa, has workers that are willing to work but they cannot fund any of it. The resource is high in value for the United States and Chile, since they both have agriculture land that needs protecting. US supplies money for cheap laborers in Chad to produce that nitrate, where Chile can also put in but wont be able to produce the same amount as a Core state. These create a hierarchical system, which State is the best, which can produce more etc etc. Now, this makes sense in my head but, if this still does not make any sense to those who are reading please let me know, I will revist this post and update it as best as I can.
While the economy is flourishing, like I noted before it has some faults. These faults such as slave labor, with low wages which can not help a person sustain a substantial living increases poverty. Child labor poses multiple questions. What is the education system like? Are these children going to school? Is education important enough? What are is the minimum wages since parents need the child working too? What are human rights like in that state? This is the world economy and what system we play into.
Source: Wallerstein, Immanuel. World Systems Analysis: An Introduction. John Hope Franklin Center.1930.
