Globalization from a World-System Perspective: A New Phase in the Core–A New Destiny for Brazil and the Semiperiphery

Abstract

The study of globalization, prominent in all fields of social science, scarcely draws upon the insights generated by the world-systems theory. In this essay, I delineate five key dimensions on which a world-systems approach diverges from a world society approach. When linked together, these five stages offer support for a dependency perspective that was elaborated in the theoretical work underpinning the world-system paradigm. I use the case of Brazil to demonstrate how a consent model, derived from this paradigm, offers a better understanding of the dynamics leading to global convergence than a consensus model derived from a world society paradigm.