This book takes into account the dramatic changes associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and significant developments in the semi-periphery and periphery. It addresses some of the issues that have come to prominence in the world-system literature since 1989.

Thomas R. Shannon is professor of sociology at Radford University and the author of Urban Problems in Sociological Perspective and American Social Structure.

1. The Origins of World-System Theory 2. World-System Structure 3. World-System Structure: The Early Centuries 4. The Contemporary World-System 5. World-System Dynamics 6. Criticisms of the Theory 7. New Directions in World-System Analysis 8. An Assessment of World-System Theory