In this short and accessible book, Immanuel Wallerstein offers a condensation of the most important ideas included in his monumental study of capitalism conceived as an integrated historical entity: The modern world system. By developing an anatomy of capitalism that travels the past five centuries, Wallerstein follows the imprint of those elements that have constantly changed and evolved, but also pays attention at the same time to the traits of capitalism that have necessarily remained constant.
The author ' s attention is focused, in particular, on the emergence and development of a unified world market and on the international division of labour that accompanies it. Wallerstein convincingly asserts, against much of contemporary currents of opinion, that capitalism has provoked a real, and not only relative, pauperization of Third World countries. The economic and social problems of the underdeveloped countries will remain unresolved as long as they remain in a context of world capitalism.
In this way, this new edition of Historical Capitalism constitutes a timely and stimulating synthesis of one of the most provocative and suggestive valuations of capitalism as a mode of production, as well as its role and relevance in world history.