伊曼纽·华勒斯坦

生平

沃勒斯坦1930年生于纽约。1954年和1959年在哥伦比亚大学先后获得社会学硕士、博士学位。1958年－1971年，在哥伦比亚大学社会系任教；1971年－1976年任加拿大麦吉尔大学社会学教授。从1976年起，任纽约宾厄姆顿大学社会学教授和“费尔南·布罗代尔经济、历史体系和文明研究中心”主任。1977年起主编《评论》（Review）期刊。从2000年直到2019年去世，任耶鲁大学资深研究员。1994年－1998年任国际社会学学会主席；1993－1995年任哥宾根重建社会科学委员会主席。他著述丰富，影响最大的著作是耗费30多年心血的《现代世界体系》（The Modern World-System）。

他曾于1998年10月至2019年7月每两个月在Agence Global发表关于全球事务的评论。

评价

沃勒斯坦在社会科学方法论方面也有深刻的见解和丰富的论述。2000年，美国社会学协会全体会员，投票选举一名二十世纪美国最伟大的社会学家，去世的和在世的都可以入选，结果沃勒斯坦以高票胜出，当选为美国二十世纪最伟大的社会学家。是年美国社会学学会专门举行仪式，庆祝这件事，会场爆满，地下坐人，墙边站人，外面走廊上挤满人。先是三位大社会学家每人二十分钟当面评价沃勒斯坦，然后沃勒斯坦做四十分钟演讲。整个仪式多次被暴风雨般的长时间热烈鼓掌所打断。

Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein ( also ; September 28, 1930 – August 31, 2019) was an American sociologist and economic historian. He is perhaps best known for his development in sociology of world-systems approach. He was a Senior Research Scholar at Yale University from 2000 until his death in 2019, and published bimonthly syndicated commentaries through Agence Global on world affairs from October 1998 to July 2019.

He was the 13th president of International Sociological Association (1994–1998).

Personal life and education

His parents, Sara Günsberg (born in 1895) and Menachem Lazar Wallerstein (born in 1890), were Polish Jews from Galicia who moved to Berlin, because of World War I, where they married in 1919. Two years later, Sara gave birth to their first son, Solomon. In 1923, the Wallerstein family emigrated to New York, where Immanuel was born. On the "list of alien passengers for the United States" at the time of his family's emigration, the nationality of his mother and brother was described as Polish.

Academic career

During his time at Columbia University he was a supporter of students who were active during Columbia University protests of 1968 opposing the university's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Originally, Wallerstein's principal sub-area of study was not American affairs, but the politics of the non-European world, specifically India and Africa. For two decades Wallerstein researched Africa, publishing numerous books and articles, and in 1973 he became president of the African Studies Association.

Professional career

Wallerstein's academic career began at Columbia University where he was an instructor and then associate professor of sociology from 1958 to 1971. From there he moved to McGill University, in Montreal where he taught from 1971 to 1976. He became distinguished professor of sociology at SUNY Binghamton University from 1976 to 1999.

Theory

Wallerstein began as an expert on post-colonial African affairs, which he selected as the focus of his studies after attending international youth conferences in 1951 and 1952. His publications focused almost exclusively on this topic until the early 1970s, when he began to distinguish himself as a historian and theorist of the global capitalist economy on a macroscopic level.……

Terms and definitions

Capitalist world-system

Wallerstein's definition follows dependency theory, which intended to combine the developments of the different societies since the 16th century in different regions into one collective development. The main characteristic of his definition is the development of a global division of labour, including the existence of independent political units (in this case, states) at the same time. There is no political center, compared to global empires like the Roman Empire; instead, the capitalist world-system is identified by the global market economy.……

Core/periphery

Defines the difference between developed and developing countries, characterized e.g.……

Honors and fellowships

• Phi Beta Kappa, 1951
• Foreign Area Fellowship, Africa, 1955–57

Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, 1970–71

Ford Fellow in Economics, Political Science and Sociology, 1970–71

Sorokin Prize (for Distinguished Scholarship), American Sociological Association, 1975

Officier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, 1984

George A. Miller Visiting professor, University of Illinois-Urbana, 1989

Wei Lun Visiting professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991

University Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Binghamton University, 1991