After world systems theory: Concerning Janet Abu-Lughod'sBefore European Hegemony

Abstract

Since the first installment of Immanuel Wallerstein's work on the modern world system was published (Wallerstein, 1974), the perspective of "world systems theory" has become widely disseminated within the fields of history and sociology and has given rise to a substantial body of literature extending the theory's general propositions in new directions and applying it to a diversity of historical problems. This paper will make no attempt to access the value of the many interesting studies conducted from this general standpoint. Rather, it focuses upon one of the most innovative and sug? gestive works in this genre, Janet Abu-Lughod's recent book, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. (See Abu-Lughod, 1989; all page references in the text are to this work.) Although the book's impact and reception within the sociological profession have been immediate and favorable, this paper will argue that closer inspection reveals all is not well with its theories, comparisons and implications. Moreover, such an examination suggests that little progress is likely in comparative, historical sociology unless the exclusivistic claims and limitations of world systems perspectives are overcome through the creation of a more inclusive comparative historical sociology of civiliza? tions, one which does not reject the importance of fundamental economic and political processes, or even less the need for more global, systematic perspectives, but which places them within wider civilizational contexts and more complex systems of institutional and cultural mediation. It is from this latter standpoint that we wish to engage Abu-Lughod's book. In doing