Historicisizing World System Theory: Labor, Sugar and Coffee in Caribbean and in Chiapas

OpenAlex English

The world system theory has been developed during the 1960s and 1970s in order to explain the relationship between developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. The main assumption of this theory is that economic and political dynamics in the world have progressed from the late 16th century towards contemporary ages to meet the necessities of the core capitalist countries and resulted in unequal and dependent relations. Consequently, while an advanced economy and democratic political institutions emerged in the developed countries, the developing and underdeveloped countries whose natural resources and economic assets are being exploited by the core countries are subjected to a backward economy and politically instable systems. However, the world system theory has not gone unchallenged; on the contrary, a considerable amount of social scientists accused it of being overwhelmingly functionalist. According to them, this theory can be misleading especially when it ignores the local dynamics that have not been necessarily shaped by the necessities of the core countries. Following this criticisms, this paper will argue that the world system theory should be revised by incorporating local factors in developing and underdeveloped countries as well as those existed in the developed countries in an effort to develop a more comprehensive approach. In doing so, the article will analyze the development of labor processes in sugar and coffee production in Caribbean and Chiapas, respectively.