THE INTELLECTUAL IS POLITICAL

THE LIFE AND WORK OF IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN (1930–2019)

Abstract

his text is an attempt to lucidly present the intellectual biography and theoretical work of Immanuel Wallerstein, the main architect and exponent of world-systems analysis. Given that the entire Wallerstein’s work has been devoted to understanding the reality of the modern world-system as the fundament of every prudent action, this paper should simultaneously be read as a homage to one of the 
greatest names of the 20th century sociology, and as a reflexion on chaotic present and uncertain future of the world we live in. Having in mind his wide range of scholarly interests and a gargantuan oeuvre left as a legacy, we have selected four main topics discussed in Wallerstein’s work. After a concise review of Wallerstein’s intellectual biography in the introduction, the first part focuses on the methodological and epistemological postulates of world-systems theory. The second part discusses the issue known as the “long sixteenth century”, that is, the genesis of the capitalist world-economy, which is also the topic of the first volume of Wallerstein’s most important work The Modern World-System. The third part reviews the historical trajectory of antisystemic movements, from the Old Left in the 19th and the first part of the 20th century, to world revolution of 1968 as a turning point in their development, to modern varieties of these movements. The fourth part discusses the issue of rise and fall of the United States of America as a hegemonic power of the world-system. In conclusion, the author emphasizes Wallerstein’s views that are essential for understanding the period of crisis in which we find ourselves, as well as his view on the social scientists’ moral obligation to participate in resolving the crisis, which involves incessant dialogue of theory and praxis, and rejection of value-freedom as a barren illusion.