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Quote by Immanuel Wallerstein

“I rather wish to rest my case on material considerations, not those of the social future but those of the actual historical period of the capitalist world-economy.”

Quote by Immanuel Wallerstein

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Work

Capistalist Civilisation

This book delves into the intricacies of a civilization driven by capitalist principles, examining its economic structures, social dynamics, and the impact of capitalism on various aspects of life within this civilization. more

Author

Immanuel Wallerstein

Immanuel Wallerstein is a renowned American sociologist known for his contributions to world-systems theory. His research focuses on globalization and international relations, profoundly influencing the understanding of the modern world order. more

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“The second reason why we haven't observed the growing gap is that our historical and social science analyses have concentrated on what has been happening within the 'middle classes' - that is, to that ten to fifteen percent of the population of the world-economy who consumed more surplus than they themselves produced. Within this sector there really has been a relatively dramatic flattening of the curve between the very top (less than one percent of the total population) and the truly 'middle' segments, or cadres (the rest of the ten to fifteen percent).”

“We must distinguish between the kind of structural transformation that would leave in place (even increase) the realities of the exploitation of labor, and one that would undo this kind of exploitation or at least radically reduce it”

Kind Reality Capitalism Labor Increase Transformation Exploitation

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“Communism is Utopia, that is nowhere. It is the avatar of all our religious eschatologies: the coming of the Messiah, the second coming of Christ, nirvana. It is not a historical prospect, but a current mythology. Socialism, by contrast, is a realizable historical system which may one day be instituted in the world.”

World May Christ Religious One Day Capitalism Historical Currents Mythology Socialism Communism Contrast Utopia Messiah Eschatology

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“To those critics who see capitalism as a system of inegalitarian, oppressive structures, its defenders have vaunted its ability to recognize and encourage what they call individual merit and asserted not only the desirability but also the inevitability of differential reward, of earned privilege, so to speak.”

Individual Speak Ability Capitalism Structure Critics Rewards Privilege Merit Defenders Inevitability Desirability

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“We can tentatively credit capitalist civilization with a positive, if very geographically uneven, record in the struggle against disease.”

Ifs Struggle Records Civilization Disease Capitalism Credit Capitalist

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“On the one hand, there has been a remarkable expansion of the total production and productivity of food production, and on the other hand an extraordinarily skewed distribution system, substituting medium-run threats for short-term threats for the majority of the world's population, particularly the 50 to 80 percent at the bottom.”

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“Wars between states and people seem to have existed under all historical systems for as long as we have some recorded evidence. War is quite clearly not a phenomenon particular to the modern world-system. On the other hand, once again the technological achievements of capitalist civilization serve as much ill as good. One bomb in Hiroshima killed more people than whole wars in pre-modern times. Alexander the Great in his whole sweep of the Middle East could not compare in destructiveness to the impact of the Gulf War on Iraq and Kuwait.”

“The very concept of universal formal education is a product (and a relatively late product) of the capitalist world-economy.”

World Economy Products Late Concepts Capitalism Universal Capitalist Formal Formal Education World Economy

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“The basic question that the 'new science' raises for our balance sheet is the issue of what scientific questions have not been asked for 500 years, which scientific risks have not been pursued. It raises the question of who has decided what scientific risks were worth taking, and what have been the consequences in terms of the power structures of the world.”

World Years Has Beens Term Issues Risk Balance Capitalism Consequence Decided Raises Structure Sheets Pursued Balance Sheets

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“What is different in capitalist civilization has been two things. First, the process of meritocracy has been proclaimed as an official virtue instead of being merely a de facto reality. The culture has been different. And secondly, the percentage of the world's population for whom such ascent was possible has gone up. But even though it has grown up, meritocratic ascent remains very much the attribute of a minority.”