Archive of World History series

On the 31st August, renowned sociologist and the inaugurator of world-systems analysis Immanuel Wallerstein died aged 88. Alongside his monumental four-volume series on The Modern World-System, one of his most influential works was Race, Nation, Class, written in dialogue with Etienne Balibar. In this interview, conducted by Manuela Bojadžijev, Balibar and Wallerstein discuss how the volume came about, and its continuing relevance thirty years later.

The study of feudal society has been central to Marxist historiography. But what if a foundational theoretical mistake has governed these inquiries for decades? In this article Hugo Raine studies the writings of Jairus Banaji and Perry Anderson on the transition from feudalism to capitalism, and asks whether you can speak of feudalism as a unitary social system, or whether that is a feature unique to capitalism.