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Quote by Immanuel Wallerstein

“It seems to me the only pertinent question is: cui bono? It is clear that the size of the privileged strata as a percentage of the whole has grown significantly under historical capitalism. And for these people, the world they know is better on the whole than any their earlier counterparts knew.”

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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“For the other end of the spectrum, the 50 to 85 percent of the world's population who are not the recipients of privilege, the world they know is almost certainly worse than any their earlier counterparts knew. It is likely they are worse off materially, despite the technological changes. In substantive as opposed to formal terms, they are more, not less, subject to arbitrary constraints, since the central mechanisms are more pervasive and more efficient. And they bear the brunt of the various kinds of psychic malaise, as well as of the destructiveness of civil wars.”

“It was the French Revolution that served as the catalyst of this renovation. Its impact was to make the concept of popular sovereignty the new moral justification for the political system of historical capitalism.”

Political Moral Revolution Concepts Capitalism Impact Historical Justification Sovereignty Political Systems Catalyst French Revolution Renovation Popular Sovereignty

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“The mode of reconciling the promise of ever-increasing reward for the cadres and the demands of the working classes for a quid pro quo for their loyalty to the state was to offer the latter a small piece of the pie.”

States Class Pieces Promise Offers Demand Capitalism Rewards Loyalty Latter Pie Working Class Small Pieces Cadre Quid Pro Quo

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“If we return to the two faces of individualism - individualism as the spur of energy, initiative, and imagination; and individualism as the limitless struggle of all against all - it can be seen how the two practices emerge from and limit the extend of the disequilibrating impact of the contradiction involved in the geocultural agenda.”

Ifs Two Faces Energy Imagination Practice Struggle Return Involved Limits Capitalism Impact Contradiction Agendas Individualism Initiative Limitless Spurs

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“This argument has been codified in the twentieth century as meritocracy, in which those on top in the process of capitalist accumulation have merited their position.”

Has Beens Process Century Position Capitalism Argument Capitalist Twentieth Century Accumulation Meritocracy

Book:Capistalist Civilisation

Source: Capistalist Civilisation

“The way in which these two practices contain each other is that it has always been possible to use the one against the other: to use racism-sexism to prevent universalism from moving too far in the direction of egalitarianism; to use universalism to prevent racism-sexism from moving too far in the direction of a caste system that would inhibit the work force mobility so necessary for the capitalist accumulation process.”

Way Two Use Moving Force Process Practice Racism Capitalism Sexism Capitalist Accumulation Castes Mobility Egalitarianism Caste System Universalism

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“When systems come to be far from points of equilibrium, they reach bifurcation points, wherein multiple, as opposed to unique, solutions, to instability become possible.”

Unique Solutions Capitalism Multiple Equilibrium Instability Bifurcation

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“We seem to be in the midst of a process of cascading bifurcations that may last some 50 more years. We can be sure some new historical order will emerge. We cannot be sure what that order will be. Concretely, we may symbolize the first bifurcation as the effect of the world revolution of 1968 which continued up to and including the so-called collapse of the communisms in 1989, the social bifurcation.”

World Years Firsts May Seems Lasts Order Social Process Effects Revolution Capitalism Historical Including Communism Midst Collapse Bifurcation

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“One by one, these governments came undone, and were forced into IMF tutelage (and national illegitimacy) by the careening oil prices, the debt imbroglio, and falling terms of trade. The last of these governments to fall were the Communist regimes of eastern Europe, which have now gone the way of other Third World countries. The second in the cascade of bifurcations is thus symbolized by 1989.”

“Are there still other possibilities? Of course there are. What is important to recognize is that all three historical options are really there, and the choice will depend on our collective world behavior over the next fifty years. Whichever option is chosen, it will not be the end of history, but in a real sense its beginning. The human social world is still very young in cosmological time. In 2050 or 2100, when we look back at capitalist civilization, what will we think?”