World Society Theory and Cultural Globalization: Contrasts with World-Systems Theory and International Relations Constructivism

The post-World War II era has witnessed the emergence of various theories of economic development and globalization.This paper focuses on two macro system-level theories -World-Systems Theory and World Society Theory.First, their characteristics and differences are highlighted to establish how World Society Theory is a cultural theory of (global) social change that views the world through a social constructionist lens, giving primacy to logics of socially constructed cognitive understandings of legitimacy and appropriateness over functionalist and realist logics of actor interest and utility maximization.To this end, constructivism in the field of international relations offers ideas that are complementary to those of World Society Theory.In order to explicate the theoretical purchase of these two perspectives -both individually and jointly -for global and comparative research, the latter half of the paper discusses their similarities and differences.One of the main differences lies in how each perspective views the origin(s) of the cultural norms and cognitive scripts that outline the contours of appropriate actor behavior and identities.From this, both theories make different assumptions about the role of power in norm emergence and institutionalization and the dynamism of norms and institutions over time.