Quote Originally Posted by edyzmedieval View Post
The poster has clear allusions to Karl Marx and his works.
That was my thought as well. I don't really know anything about Wallerstein (other than what can be learned from a 15 second internet search).

As to something replacing capitalism...I don't know what other options there are other than state control of business - such as in communism or facism. I doubt that we are about to erupt into a state made up of co-operatives.

What I suppose I could see is a possibility for decline in corporatism though...but it is far from clear that this would be inevitable, by any means. There are more groups speaking up against, in particular, large multi-national corporations as being devoid of values (by mandate). But, who is going to take action? It would take either a revolution/uprising or for politicians/governments (Which are funded by those same corporations) to pass laws/treaties that reel in the power of, or regulate these internations corporations. I think things would have to get much worse before you will see a popular uprising against the rich in the West, and I have no faith in politicians...so I would still categorize this in the dreamland category.

The most interesting changes are things that Wallerstein could not likely have forseen. Not worker sufferage and those things, but peak oil, climate change, food and water shortages. These will force many changes, the effects of which remain to be seen. One vision is that they will mandate a change back to local production, de-globalization, and could (if this vision pans out), mean a decline in the economies (including most notably economies of scale) that allow the domination of large multi-national corporations. This is however, only one of dozens of views of the post peak oil world.