伊曼紐爾·沃勒斯坦，世界體係理論的開創者，“世界體係”學派的核心人物。1976年起，長期任教美國紐約州立大學賓漢姆頓分校社會學係，並擔任該校“布羅代爾經濟、曆史體係和文明研究中心”主任，為該校傑齣教授。1994—1998年擔任國際社會學聯閤會主席。現為美國耶魯大學資深研究員。從1974年開始，沃勒斯坦的代錶作《現代世界體係》多捲本陸續齣版。其他重要著作包括《資本主義世界經濟》、《曆史資本主義》、《世界經濟的政治學——國傢、運動和文明》、《地緣政治和地緣文化——論變動中的世界體係》、《否思社會科學》、《自由主義的終結》，以及閤著的《世界體係分析：理論與方法論》、《反體係運動》等。

In this, new edition of a classic work—now with a new preface—on the roots of social scientific thinking, Immanuel Wallerstein develops a thorough-going critique of the legacy of nineteenth-century social science for social thought in the new millennium. We have to "unthink"—radically revise and discard—many of the presumptions that still remain the foundation of dominant perspectives today. Once considered liberating, these notions are now barriers to a clear understanding of our social world. They include, for example, ideas built into the concept of "development." In place of such a notion, Wallerstein stresses transformations in time and space. Geography and chronology should not be regarded as external influences upon social transformations but crucial to what such transformation actually is. Unthinking Social Science applies the ideas thus elaborated to a variety of theoretical areas and historical problems. Wallerstein also offers a critical discussion of! the key figures whose ideas have influenced the position he formulates—including Karl Marx and Fernand Braudel, among others. In the concluding sections of the book, Wallerstein demonstrates how these new insights lead to a revision of world-systems analysis.