Incorporating Comparison within a World-Historical Perspective: An Alternative Comparative

Method
Author(s): Philip McMichael
Source: American Sociological Review, Vol. 55, No. 3 (Jun., 1990), pp. 385-397
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095763
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INCORPORATING COMPARISON WITHIN A WORLD-HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE: AN ALTERNATIVE COMPARATIVE METHOD

PHILIPMCMICHAEL
CornellUniversity

Recentcritiquesof modernization theoryhavequestionedthecomparabilityof its central

organizingconcept,the "nationalsociety." The logic of comparativeinquiryrequires
independentor independentuniform"cases"andformal quasi-experimental designsfor
comparative generalization. Global conceptions of social change violate formal
comparative requirements, necessitating an alternative form of "incorporated
comparison," that takes both multipleldiachronicand singularlsynchronicforms.
Incorporatedcomparisonis usedto conceptualizevariationacross timeand space when
timeand space dimensionsare neitherseparatenor uniform.Thefixed unitsof analysis
employedby modernization and world-systemtheoriesyield to an alternativestrategyof
groundingthe analyticalunits of comparisonin the world-historicalprocesses under
investigation. Recent studies illustrate this alternative to formal comparison and
incorporatecomparisoninto theprocess of substantiveinquiry.

The comparativemethod has been under been adequately specified in methodological

scrutinylately as sociologists attemptto terms.Thereis a lack of fit between extanttax-
clarify its role in social science. Four authors' onomies of comparative-historical research
assessments of its potential divide into ques- strategiesandrecentcomparativeinquiriesthat
tions of rigorversus interpretivescope. On the eschew the formal comparativemethod. The
side of rigor,Skocpol (1984) andRagin (1987) comparative-historicalresearch strategies of-
arguethatthe comparativemethod, when used fered by Skocpol and Tilly (as representatives
with certainlogical strategies,can approachthe of the two alternativeconcerns)display a basic
"scientific"rigorof statisticalor variable-based convergence.Whatis missing is a specification
inquiry. On the interpretiveside, Wallerstein of an alternativenon-experimental"historical-
(1974) andTilly (1984) arguethatcomparison, comparative"researchstrategy.To addressthat
when it revealsthe interconnectednessof social alternative,it is necessary to first evaluate the
phenomena,can advance the cause of histori- interpretivechallenge to sociological positiv-
cally-groundedsocial theory. Where Skocpol ism.
and Ragin are concernedwith the comparative The perspectivesof Tilly andWallersteinare
method's formal properties vis-a-vis social- similar: Tilly urges the development of "his-
scientificinquiry,WallersteinandTilly wantto toricallygroundedanalysisof big structuresand
employ comparisonto question the positivist' large processes as alternativesto the timeless,
categories inherited from nineteenth-century placeless models of social organization and
social theory. social change that came to us with the nine-
While these alternativeconcerns are recog- teenth-centuryheritage"(1984, p. 2). Waller-
nizable in substantiveresearch,they have not stein contends:"Thefundamentalerrorof ahis-
A version of this paper was presented at the torical social science (including ahistorical
*
1988 meetings of the AmericanSociological Asso- versions of Marxism) is to reify parts of the
ciation. For their constructivesuggestions, I espe- totality into such units and then to compare
cially thankWalterGoldfrank,TerenceK. Hopkins, these reified structures"(1974, p. 388). "Soci-
and FrederickH. Buttel as well as Craig Calhoun, ety," for example, is assumed to be a self-evi-
HarrietFriedmann,Jess Gilbert, Gary Green, Tsz dent and discrete social unit, and therefore
Man Kwong, JosephPark,RichardRubinson,Mar-
garet Somers, Dale Tomich, RichardWilliams, and
comparable.Both consider such assumptions
several anonymousreviewers. ahistorical, as modem social change is not
I The term"positivist"here designates the appli- simply the propertyof individualsocieties.
cation of natural-science-likemodels to social phe- However, the intellectual goals of Waller-
nomena. stein and Tilly differ. For Wallerstein, social

AmericanSociological Review, 1990,Vol. 55 (June:385-397) 385

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386 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

change can only be understoodas an historical ing an all-encompassingworld system. Rather

system that operates at a different level from than using "encompassingcomparison"- a
the conventional"nationalsociety." Cross-na- strategythatpresumes a "whole"that governs
tional comparison must place nations within its "parts"- it progressivelyconstructsa whole
systemicprocessesoperatingatlevels "beneath" as a methodologicalprocedureby giving con-
and "above"the nation state. The world capi- text to historical phenomena. In effect, the
talist system, which includes statesas its essen- "whole" emerges via comparativeanalysis of
tial political components,is the ultimateunit of "parts"as moments in a self-forming whole. I
comparison(1974, p. 390). Tilly, however, is call this incorporatedcomparison.
more agnostic, believing that modem social "Incorporatedcomparison"stems from the
change arises from two distinct, but intercon- critiqueof "modernization theory,"andincludes
nected, processes of development of the na- the theoretical proposition that international
tion-states system on the one hand and the organizationis continuallyevolving. The goal
worldwidecapitalistsystemon the other(1984, is not to develop invarianthypothesesvia com-
p. 147). He details various comparativestrate- parisonof more or less uniform"cases,"but to
gies open to the analyst,including"encompass- give substanceto a historicalprocess (a whole)
ing comparisons"thatsituatephenomenawithin through comparison of its parts. The whole,
trans-societalstructures(1984, pp. 80-3). Where therefore,does not exist independentof its parts.
Wallersteinargues that the modem world sys- Whetherconsideringnation-statesor a singular
tem with its "transsocietalstructures"has been world system, neitherwhole nor partsare per-
in existence for the last five centuries,Tilly is manentcategories or units of analysis. Gener-
content to speculate that encompassing com- alizationis historicallycontingentbecause the
parison will "come into its own" and secure a units of comparisonare historically specified.
place in our "intellectualtoolbox" as we per- In short,comparisonbecomes the substanceof
ceive moreclearlythe networksorderingsocial the inquiryratherthanits framework.
life (1984, p. 147). While cautious about the This essay proceeds from a discussion of
risks of functionalist explanation in "encom- extant taxonomies to a critical review of com-
passing comparisons,"2Tilly neverthelesscon- parative methodology and the challenge of
cludes: world-system theory to that methodology. It
Encompassing comparisons, however, deserve concludes with an illustrationof studies using
more attention than they have received. "incorporatedcomparison"to develop histori-
Encompassingcomparisonshave twin advantages: cally-grounded social theory. I characterize
directly taking accountof the interconnectedness comparativesociology in ideal-typicaltermsin
of ostensibly separateexperiences and providing two senses: (1) by accentuatingthe formal as-
a strongincentive to groundanalyses explicitly in sumptions governing comparative methodol-
the historical contexts of the structures and ogy, and (2) by focusing on macro, cross-na-
processes they include (1984, p. 147). tionalcomparison,since this is the comparative
I pursuethe Wallerstein/Tillypath,butrefor- sociology thatWallersteinand Tilly address.
mulate the character of that which "encom-
passes," and distinguish the procedure from CONVERGINGTAXONOMIES:SKOCPOL
extant taxonomies of comparativeand histori- AND TILLY
cal sociological strategy.An emergentform of
"historical-comparative"inquiry parallels the Incorporatedcomparisonis a researchstrategy
rise of world-system theory and blends the not considered in the individual taxonomies
mutualconcernsof Wallersteinand Tilly. Sys- developed by Skocpol and Tilly. Table 1 sum-
temic phenomenaarecomparedwithoutassum- marizes Skocpol's and Tilly's formulationsof
alternativeresearchagendasandcomparesthem
2 At issue is the question of case independence,
with one of my own. Theoreticalgoals are di-
which is a formal requirementof theory testing in vided into the application of theory, such as
the comparativemethod. Thus Collins asks of the
establishingtheplausibilityof a causalhypothe-
world-systemperspective:"Suchconceptions,how-
ever, raisea methodologicalproblem:If thereis only sis, and the construction of theory, such as
one world system, how can we test a theory? The hypothesis-buildingvia comparative analysis
numberof historical instances reduces to one case, linking causes and outcomes across cases. Re-
because everythingis connectedtogether"(1984, p. search goals are divided into formal concerns
341). with the status of causal arguments(i.e., with

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COMPARATIVEWORLD-HISTORICALANALYSIS 387

Table 1. Typology of Selected Strategiesfor ComparativeResearch

TheoreticalGoals
ResearchGoals Application Construction

Skocpol's research strategies for historical sociology

Formal 2
(Concernwith Applicationof theoretical Comparative-analytic
"stateof knowledge") model to history

Substantive 3 4
(Concernwith Applicationof concept
"stateof theworld") to history

Tilly's strategies of comparison

Formal 2
(Concernwith Encompassingcomparison Comparative-analytic:
"stateof knowledge") (juxtapositionof Variation-findingand
cases in time and space Universalizingcomparison
reveal systemic properties) (to establishprincipleof
variationamong cases)

Substantive 3 4
(Concernwith Individualizingcomparison
"stateof the world") (contrastingcases of a given
phenomenonto reveal
particularities)

A composite of research strategies for historical sociology

Formal 1 2
(Concernwith Generalizing(use of history Comparative-analytic(specifies
"stateof knowledge") to confirmhypotheses) causal regularitiesin varying
or convergentoutcomes)

Substantive 3 4
(Concernwith Particularizing(conceptualization Incorporatedcomparisons(uses
"stateof the world") of an instancevia ideal-typical comparisonin reconstructing
analysis) an historicalconfigurationposited
as a self-formingwhole)

"thestateof knowledge")and substantivecon- structionof a theoryof causalregularitiesusing

cerns with some historicalprocess or situation formal comparative-analyticmethods (box 2);
(i.e., with "the state of the world"). and the use of a key concept or set of concepts
These researchstrategiescan be understood in historicalanalysis to meaningfullyelaborate
as a set of "moments"in the researchprocess, a particularphenomenon,whethera case study
that may presuppose one another - for ex- or informalcomparison(box 3). This is a typo-
ample, a focus on the statusof a formal theory logy of strategies;as Skocpol claims they are
may depend on prior theory constructionvia not "hermeticallysealed from one another"and
comparative-analyticanalysis. On the other "creative combinations are and always have
hand,they can be understoodas relatively dis- been practical"(1984,p. 362). An implicitfourth
tinct research emphases. In the top panel, strategy(box 4), constructinga theoreticalac-
Skocpol's three "researchstrategiesin histori- count of a recurringor complex historicalcon-
cal sociology" can be classified schematically figuration,is not addressedby Skocpol.
as: the applicationof a general theory to ex- Skocpol's research strategies for historical
plain historical phenomena (box 1); the con- sociology are quite compatible typologically

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388 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

with the more focused comparativestrategies ous strategies may be sequential, supplemen-
proposedby Tilly (middle panel of Table 1). I tary,or complementary.I arguefor the relative
argue that Tilly's four strategies of compari- autonomyof the strategies,especially as I see
son: individualizing - contrasting "specific "incorporated comparison"as ananalyticalstrat-
instancesof a given phenomenonas a means of egy in which theoryconstructionis historically
graspingthe peculiaritiesof each case" (1984, specific. Eachstrategypursuesa particularlevel
p. 82), universalizing, variation-finding,and of analysis governing the scope of the data
encompassingcan be reducedto three distinct addressedandthe claims of the research.In that
forms of inquiry. Universalizing comparison sense, each strategyhas its own researchfocus.
- establishing"thatevery instance of a phe-
nomenon follows essentially the same rule";
ENCOMPASSINGCOMPARISONOR
and variation-findingcomparison- establish- INCORPORATEDCOMPARISON?
ing "a principleof variationin the characteror
intensity of a phenomenonby examining sys- It is particularlyimportantto distinguish "in-
tematicdifferencesamonginstances"(1984, p. corporated"from"encompassing"comparison.
82), are in fact alternativeforms of compara- Tilly defines "encompassingcomparisons"as
tive-analyticprocedure.Both Skocpol, in asso- comparisons that "select locations within [a
ciatingthe strengthof comparativeanalysiswith large] structureor process andexplain similari-
a combinationof Mill's "methodof agreement" ties or differences among those locations as
and"methodof difference"(1984, pp. 378-80), consequencesof theirrelationshipsto the whole"
and Ragin, in building what he refers to as a (1984, p. 123). Wallersteinidentifiesthe "large
"synthetic"comparativestrategy(1987, pp. 82- structureor process"as the modem world sys-
4), indirectlyendorsesuch a classification.This tem: "an alternativemodel with which to en-
comparative-analytictype fits in box 2. gage in comparativeanalysis, one rootedin the
"Encompassing comparison," a strategy historicallyspecific totality which is the world
employing a systemic ideal-type to explain capitalisteconomy." He continues: "We hope
variationamongcases "asconsequencesof their to demonstratethereby that to be historically
relationshipsto the whole" (Tilly 1984,p. 125), specific is not to fail to be analyticallyuniver-
is placedin box 1. Tilly's depictionof Rokkan's sal" (1974, p. 391). Demonstratingthe exis-
"conceptualmaps"andhis claim thatthey "lack tence of the system as an historicalentity leads
dynamism"(1984,p. 139)suggest thatthis strat- him to employ an "illustrative" method of
egy is an applicationof a theoreticalmodel to comparison using a single entity (as distinct
history."Individualizingcomparison"is placed from conventional "analytic"comparison of
in box 3 since the emphasis is on particulariz- multipleentities),which producesfunctionalist
ing a phenomenon via informal comparison. history (Bonnell 1980, p. 165). Tilly likewise
Tilly's taxonomyalso leaves box 4 empty. observesthat"encompassingcomparisons"risk
In the bottom panel of Table 1 I present a the danger of functionalistexplanationwhere
composite typology that combines the ideas of the whole determinesbehaviorof the partsand
Skocpol and Tilly. Most important,I consider he concludes: "Lovers of risk should try en-
the meaningof the logical cell (box 4) thatnei- compassingcomparisons"(1984, p. 124).
ther Skocpol or Tilly address.This cell repre- The risk, it seems to me, is not in employing
sents an interpretiveapproach,focusing on the a global perspective in which comparison is
constructionof causal historicalanalysis with- among components of a larger entity, but in
out recourse to formal methodological proce- how that perspective is constructed.If we be-
duresor a formaltheory. gin, as Tilly suggests, with "a mental map of
A typology of strategiesdoes not mean there the whole system and a theoryof its operation"
is no relation among the types. For instance, (1984, p. 125), then we are likely to proceed
some analystsmight see a sequence among the with an uncontestedunit of analysis. Tilly ar-
strategieswhere the missing strategyperforms gues thatthe map andtheoryarebest left provi-
a "groundbreaking"role. Thus, box 4 might sional, so thatthey "will improvein use"(1984,
inform a comparative-analyticconstructionof p. 125). Nevertheless, the procedureputs the
hypotheses from additionalcases (box 2), or a development of historically-groundedsocial
generalizingtheory (box 1), or a more specific theoryat risk by presuminga systemic unit and
conceptualizationto be elaboratedin a particu- unit cases within which historical observation
lar instance (box 3). Relations among the vari- takes place. This is common to formal com-

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COMPARATIVEWORLD-HISTORICALANALYSIS 389

parative-analytic procedures,whichpresuppose economies, slave and wage labor systems,

"casesas wholes, andthey comparewhole cases metropolitan and colonial cultures, etc. The
with each other" (Ragin 1987, p. 3). Precon- comparativejuxtaposition of these segments
ceptions about cases as analytical units con- reveals the contradictorydynamics(along part/
straininvestigationby shaping conceptualiza- part and part/whole dimensions) that provide
tion of causal regularitiesinferredfrom com- theirhistoricaltextureand that of the whole.
mon patternsacross "cases."In eithermode of The fact thatthe firstform has a generalizing
comparison,the analystmust assumethatcom- thrust and the second form a particularizing
mon patterningderives from intrinsicproper- thrustdoes not rule out combinationswherethe
ties of either "unit-cases"or the global system particularand the general mutually condition
encompassing"cases." one another.The strategic division lies in the
Use of preconceived units is an overriding relative emphases on space and time coordi-
"experimental"principle of analytic compari- nates in the analysis of historical configura-
son (e.g., Przeworskiand Teune 1970). It re- tions. Overall,this strategyreformulatestherole
moves the unit of analysis from theoretical of comparison,subordinatingit to a substantive
contention and limits the scope and possibili- historical problem. Comparison becomes an
ties of historicalexplanation.As a result,com- "internal"rather than an "external"(formal)
parativeinquirytends to be constructedaround featureof inquiry,relatingapparentlyseparate
an "external"relationshipbetween "cases"and processes (in time and/orspace) as components
theory,where"cases"or "wholes"areabstracted of a broader,world-historicalprocess or con-
from theirtime/place setting. juncture.In short, this strategy seeks to avoid
As an alternative to comparing discrete the formalconstructionof units of comparative
"cases"to mediatethe (presumed)poles of "the analysis central to the comparative analytic
general"and "the particular,"the analyst can method.
use "incorporatedcomparison"in which inter-
relatedinstancesare integralto, and define, the LIMITSOF THE COMPARATIVE-
generalhistoricalprocess. Put anotherway, the ANALYTIC METHOD
particulars directly realize the general (c.f.
Moore1958,p. 151),which cannotbe abstracted In comparative analytic inquiry, theory and
as a formaltheory. concepts can only approach "generality"by
The"incorporated comparison"researchstrat- juxtaposingtwo or more "particular" units.The
egy can take two forms. The first is a multiple goal is to find invarianceby analyzing several
form, in which instancesare analyzedas prod- configurational"cases"(RaginandZaret1983,
ucts of a continuouslyevolving process in and p. 744). In cross-nationalcomparison,for ex-
across time.An example might be the develop- ample, this appearsin the procedureof juxta-
ment of the state system as an emerging con- posing national societies assumed to be unre-
figurationof states interrelatedalong several lated in time and space. This assumptionde-
dimensions-,bothcontextual(capitalist,or mili- rives from evolutionarytheory (Bock 1956, p.
tary-industrial epochs) and compositional 90), in which national societies are self-con-
(economic hierarchy,geo-political relations). tained systems with common ontogenetic pat-
Here,comparisonreveals andposits a systemic terns. In this theory, the "national society"
process throughthe juxtapositionof instances emerged in the nineteenth century as a com-
in time. parativeconstruct,distinguishedcategorically
The second is a singular form, analyzing from traditional societies in an evolutionary
variation in or across space within a world- sequence. Nisbet writes: "Fundamentalto the
historical conjuncture. This is a "cross-sec- ComparativeMethod and its assumed validity
tional"comparisonof segmentsof a contradic- as a body of evidence are the very preconcep-
tory whole in which the segments (e.g., social tions - conclusions, too, actually - of the
units, cultures,or belief systems) "belong"to theoryof social evolutionthatthe Comparative
distinctsocial times. They arecomparablepre- Method purportedlyverifies" (1969, p. 190).
cisely becausetheyarecompetitivelycombined, Such premises formalize the comparative
and thereforeredefined, in an historical con- method in so far as the idea of evolving na-
juncture with unpredictable outcomes. Ex- tional societies (each independentlyreplicating
amples of such overlappingsegments are his- a common systemic process) fulfills the crite-
torical combinations of peasant and market rion of uniformityof unit cases (Zelditch 1973,

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390 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

p. 282). In principle, it allows indiscriminate the state, or nation, or people" - the world
cross-nationalcomparison.3 economy "within which there is an ongoing
More important,the notion of separate,ho- division of labor" becomes the site of social
listic national societies encourages compara- change (Wallerstein1983, p. 155). But the shift
tive abstraction.Zelditch claims: "Thatgener- in levels of analysis is not simply an enlarge-
alization requires abstractionfollows simply ment of view. The world system is not merely
fromthe uniquenessof wholes"(1973, pp. 278- the site of social change, it is more the
9). But this assumes uniqueculturalconfigura- fundamentalsource of social change.One state-
tionsin societiesunconnectedin time andspace. ment of this perspectiveis the following con-
It eliminatesthe possibility of a differentorder ceptualizationof the stateas neithera universal
of generalization- an inverse procedurethat nor a discretecategory:
would posit the distinctivenessof modem cul- Stateness ... is not a generic categoryof political
turalconfigurationsas productsandcreatorsof life - whose variedforms areto be tracedwithin
a connective historicalprocess (see Robertson and across civilizations - but an historically
and Lechner 1985). But to posit historical dis- specific category,one distinctiveto therelationally
tinctiveness is a contradictionin terms if the formedjurisdictions-the sovereignties-of the
unit of analysis correspondsto the unit of his- (initially) European-centeredinterstatesystem. It
torical variance. One solution is to employ a is a category conceptually given by, because
unit of analysis that is not the nationalsociety, factually imposed by, the developmentprocesses
as world-systemtheory has done, by declaring of the capitalist world-economy (Hopkins and
Wallerstein1981, p. 245).
that nation-statesare partial institutions of a
broader,singular,global economy (Wallerstein In positing the encompassing world system
1983, p. 133). The frameof referencefor social as the unit of analysis, the theory reformulates
change becomes a global unit of analysis.Thus the conventionalbalancingact between gener-
Bach claims: "Long-heldstrategiesof concept ality and particularity.Analytic comparison
formation and comparativeanalysis are chal- takes historical diversity as a given and for-
lenged by the insistence upon singular proc- mally juxtaposes such particularityto produce
esses as the starting point for inquiry...." general concepts. However, the world-system
(1980, p. 297). perspective offers alternative-epistemological
assumptions:(1) that we are dealing in social
WORLD-SYSTEMTHEORY'S categories of an integratedmodem world, and
CHALLENGEAND LIMITS therefore (2) that they are not discrete, so the
particularexpresses the general.
World-systemtheory's epistemological inter- Consider Wallerstein's account of incorpo-
ventionconcernedthe specificationof the arena rationof the Indiansubcontinent,the Ottoman
of social action.4The shift was from the na- empire, the Russian empire, and West Africa
tional society as a self-evident unit of analysis into the world system. He employs an "encom-
to the world economy as an historical social passing comparison"of the four more or less
system. Insteadof the "politico-culturalunit- simultaneous processes where each "process
I Uniformity of units is a theoretical require- derived ... from the need of the world-econ-
ment -
omy to expand its boundaries,a need which
it does not mean that all existing (na-
tional) societies fulfill this criterion. According to was itself the outcome of pressuresinternalto
Zelditch,"intelligiblecomparisons"demandthatthe the world-economy"(Wallerstein1989, p. 129).
methodological rules be complemented with sub- Determiningthe point, or event, of "incorpora-
stantiveknowledge of the societies underinvestiga- tion" in which "some significant production
tion to produce relevant comparison.This includes processes in a given geographic location be-
allowing "unique" transnational or case-specific come integral to various of the commodity
processes to guide selection of cases (Elder 1976, p. chains that constitute the ongoing divisioning
213; Ragin 1981, p. 114; and see Skocpol 1979, of labor of the capitalist world-economy"in-
chapter1). It also includesWeber'sideal-type(1949, volves identifyingresponses"tothe ever-chang-
p. 93), which mediatestheory and historybecause it
is distilled from historyand yet is createdaccording ties (Parsons1973, p. 107), which qualifiedthe origi-
to some criterionof rationalitynot historicallygiven nal evolutionist premise of national societies as so-
(see Kocka 1985, p. 141). cial systems. While Parsons's notion derived from
4 The epistemological shift is a substantiverevi- societies themselves, Wallersteinis skepticalof the
sion of Parsons'snotion of a social system of socie- utility of the concept of "society."

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COMPARATIVEWORLD-HISTORICALANALYSIS 391

ing 'marketconditions' of this world-economy INCORPORATEDCOMPARISON

(whateverthe sourceof these changes)in terms
of efforts by those who control these produc- An alternativeto a preconceivedconcretetotal-
tion processesto maximizethe accumulationof ity in which partsaresubordinatedto the whole
capital within this market"(Wallerstein 1989, is the idea of an emergenttotalitysuggestedby
p. 130). In concreteterms, in each instancethe "incorporatedcomparison."Here totality is a
"emergenceof a three-tieredspatialspecializa- conceptualprocedure, ratherthan an empiri-
tion withina zone 'export'cash crops, 'local cal or conceptual premise. It is an imminent
market' food crops, and 'crops' of migrant ratherthan a primafacie propertyin which the
workers- has been a telltale sign of incorpo- whole is discovered through analysis of the
ration"(Wallerstein1989, p. 138). mutualconditioningof parts.A conception of
In world-systemtheory,social concepts can- totalityin which parts(as relationalcategories)
not be abstractedfrom their place/time dimen- revealandrealizethe changingwhole (cf. Green
sions as they can in formalcomparison. and Fairweather1984) overcomes the rigidity
To focuson certainseeminglysimilarconditions of world-system theory and builds on its in-
invariousplacesatvarioustimes;to abstract those sights. In constructinga holistic interpretation
conditionsfromtheirplace-timesettings;andto of an historical process, the unit of analysis
inquire, intothecausesorconsequences
abstractly, neednot be simultaneouslythe empiricalwhole.
of theconditionsis to proceedpreciselyintheone As a method of inquiry, a world-historical
wayclearlyruledoutof courtby theworld-system perspectiveconceptualizes "instances"as dis-
or world-historical perspectiveon socialchange tinct mutually-conditioningmoments of a sin-
(Hopkins1978,p. 212). gular phenomenon posited as a self-forming
Fromthis perspective,comparativegeneraliza- whole.6It is concernedwith reducingthe "ex-
tion loses its point: "It is the a priori elimina- ternal"oppositionalrelationbetweentheoryand
tion of eachcase's distinctivenessthatthe world history - an oppositionembeddedin general-
system's approachrules out, not the claim that izing strategiesand the use of a priori units of
there are comparabilities or similarities" analysis - and promotingan "internal"rela-
(Hopkins 1978, p. 213). The differenceis two- tion between theory and history.7It is an alter-
fold: (1) in conventionalcomparison,the units I This parallels Marx's historical method of de-
are themselves analytical points of departure, veloping concrete concepts in which a social cate-
whereasin world-systemstudies they are-units gory is conceptualizedas "arichtotalityof manyde-
of observationof systemic processes (analyti- terminationsandrelations"(Marx 1973, p. 100). For
cally defined); and (2) generalizationfrom the example, the concept of "wage labor"(as a compo-
comparativeoperation is intended to be sub- nent of the "capital"relation)was not an empirical
stantiveratherthan logical. concept - wage laborwas not prevalentat the time
World-systemtheory's limits lie in its for- nor a singularrelation.It presupposeda long history
malism.Like formalcomparison,it presumesa of social and political transformationinvolving dis-
possession of peasantriesandconstructionof a world
whole, an historical system "whose future is
market- both of which were decisive and related
inscribed in its conception" (Howe and Sica preconditionsof the emergenceof capital.The many-
1980, p. 255). The determinacyof the system is sided determinationsof the concept of "wage labor"
both conceptualand real - an all-encompass- concretizedit historicallyat the same time as it was
ing worldwide division of labor. Wallerstein used in Marx's theoretical schema as an abstract
writes: "My own unit of analysis is based on analyticaldevice. The goal of Marx's method is to
the measurablesocial reality of interdependent give historical context to the empirical problem at
productionactivities, what may be called an hand, i.e., to concretize it as a phenomenonin time
'effective social division of labor' or, in code and space (see Sayer 1987).
language,an 'economy"'(1979, p. 270). Inother 6The term"self-formingwhole" refersto the dia-
words, the unit of analysis is equated with the lectial conceptionof totality in which "the partsnot
only internallyinteractandinterconnectboth among
object of analysis (Friedmann1980). This is themselves and with the whole, but also that the
the centralambiguity.By mergingthe concept whole cannotbe petrifiedin an abstractionsuperior
of the world-system (as a distributional to the facts, becauseprecisely in the interactionof its
mechanismin lieu of a single political center, partsdoes the wholeform itself as a whole" (Kosik,
qua ideal type) with its empirical scope, the 1976, p. 23).
world-systemperspectivehas no choice but to 7 Developing an "internalrelationbetween theory

prefigurehistory. and history"refers to the conceptualizationof his-

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392 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

nativeperspectivebecauseit views comparable context, realizing Veblen's insight concretely,

social phenomena as differentiatedoutcomes Moore representsthe transnationalextension
or momentsof an historicallyintegratedproc- of commodity relations as "the commercial
ess, whereas conventional comparison treats impulse," a quite abstractideal-type. Further-
such social phenomenaas parallel cases. The more, such causal generalityproduces a com-
distinctionlies in the initial conceptualization parative design that rules out any cumulative
of the coordinatesof the inquiry,which is the interaction between the states concerned
point of the formal/substantivedistinction of (Johnson 1980, p.51). Their individual mod-
researchgoals in Table 1, and which can now ernizing phases/sequences are so varied in
be illustratedfor the two forms of incorporated processual and chronological terms that an
comparison. implicit world-historicalsequence is quite in-
The multipleform of incorporatedcompari- determinate.
son. The multiple form of incorporatedcom- A better example of the multiple form is
parisonanalyzes a cumulativeprocess through Walton's study, Reluctant Rebels (1984). It
time- and space-differentiatedinstances of an redefinesthe theoreticalfield of studiesof revo-
historically singular process. Barrington lutionby reconceiving"nationalrevolts"with a
Moore's (1967) Social Origins of Dictatorship global dimensionratherthansimply as discrete
and Democracy informs, but does not ade- nationalevents with common conditions. Jux-
quately exemplify, this comparativeperspec- taposing the Huk rebellion in the Philippines,
tive. Moore's alternative"modernizing"routes/ the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya, and Colombia's
ideal types (democracy,fascism, and commu- La Violencia, Walton characterizes them as
nism) arepoliticalphasesof a combinedworld- "integralpartsof continuousstrugglesthatbegan
historicalprocess of modernization. to take on definable features at the turnof the
definite ones by the 1920s) in re-
Toa verylimitedextentthesethreetypes. . . may century(and
constitute routesandchoices.Theyare sponse to the socioeconomic inequalities and
alternative
muchmoreclearlysuccessivehistoricalstages. dislocations producedby the incorporationof
As suchtheydisplaya limiteddeterminaterelation local and largely precapitalistsocieties into the
to each other.The methodsof modernization global economy" (Walton 1984, p. 169). In
chosenin one countrychangethe dimensionof effect, Waltonaddressesrelated,parallelevents
the problemfor the nextcountrieswho takethe in the evolution of the state system as an ongo-
step, as Veblenrecognizedwhenhe coinedthe ing, general process manifested in particular
now fashionable term, 'the advantages of nationalsettings (althoughthe feedback effect
backwardness' (Moore1967,pp.413-14). of the instances on the general process is dis-
Moore's notion of determinacy,the general- counted, perhapsbecause of the state-building
izing medium, is quite abstract.It is, in fact, focus).
close to a moral vision "of the tidal flow of Walton'sreformulationof "nationalrevolts"
history, a flow that encompasses crucial pas- directly addresses the world-historicaldimen-
sages of violent change in a numberof socie- sion, employing a theory of internationalpat-
ties" as "the unique history of humankind" terning over time. His study responds to
(Smith 1984, p. 333). As such, it poses no theo- Skocpol's States and Social Revolutions by
retical problem of determinacy,evidenced in broadeningher "exacting"definitionof "social
his choice of analyticalcategories and the re- revolution"to include more recent and more
searchdesign. In a study thatpotentiallycould limited rebellions within a broader epochal
place national cases within a world market definition. He concludes: "In the historical
processof capitalistrevolutionthatbegins with
tory from the formativerelationsamong the facts at the classical Europeaninstances, national re-
hand. It is a dialecticalprocedurein which "logical
investigationindicateswherehistoricalinvestigation a process of abstractionin which the analystmoves
begins, and that in turn complements and presup- back andforthbetween partsand whole, developing
poses the logical" (Kosik 1976, p. 29). This refersto the complexity and form of their interrelations,and
the distinctionbetween the method of investigation in so doing concretizing both. Thus, an "historical
and the method of exposition in which "that with fact is in a sense not only the prerequisite for
which science initiates its exposition is alreadythe investigation but is also its result"(Kosik 1976, p.
resultof research"(Kosik 1976, p. 16), i.e., the theo- 25). In the process of conceptualization,facts be-
reticalprocessingof data derivingfrom phenomena come historically concrete by locating them in a
recognizedto be dynamicallyinterrelated.Theoryis complex and dynamiccontext.

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COMPARATIVEWORLD-HISTORICALANALYSIS 393

volts are another stage that now shades into investigates the phenomenonof absolutismas
new forms that emerge with the international an historical interludebetween the feudal and
political economy of late capitalism"(Walton capitalistepochs. Absolutism was not a singu-
1984,pp.207-8). Thedifferenceis thatWalton's lar occurrence:
comparativestrategylocates revolts in a cumu- ... the storyof Absolutismhas many,overlapping
lative historical context, whereas Skocpol's beginnings and separate, staggered endings. Its
comparativestrategyclassifies the threeclassic underlyingunity is real andprofound,but it is not
revolutions(France,Russia, and China)by iso- thatof a linearcontinuum.... The firstbourgeois
lating theircommon configurativepatterns(cf. revolutions occurred long before the last
Burawoy1989). metamorphosesof Absolutism, chronologically
Skocpol's "transnationalcontexts" that im- (Anderson 1974, p. 10).
pinge on the three state organizationsremain In spite of this, Andersonhas a conceptionof
relatively abstract,conceived as "moderniza- absolutismthat he develops througha combi-
tion" pressures(Skocpol 1979, p. 286). Main- nationof theoreticalandhistoricalanalysis.He
tainingthe irreducibilityof statesandthe world states: "The aim of this study is to examine
marketis undoubtedlya theoreticalchoice, but EuropeanAbsolutism simultaneously'in gen-
it also coincides with the formal conditions of eral' and 'in particular':that is to say, both the
the comparativemethod, which "assumesthat 'pure' structuresof the AbsolutistState, which
the contingentelements observedas partof the constitute it as a fundamentalhistorical cate-
phenomenaare the same over time and space" gory, and the 'impure' variantspresented by
(Bach 1980, p. 302). The comparativemethod the specific and diverse monarchies of post-
specifiesthe sufficientandnecessaryconditions medieval Europe"(Anderson1974, p. 7). Thus
for socially-transformingrevolutions, but in absolutism,seen as a politicized form of class
doing so the states in questionare comparedas rule by the European aristocracy, obtained
cases with common conditions and destinies throughoutEuropein various"national"guises.
(the prototypicalmodernbureaucraticstate).In At the same time, absolutism was intrinsi-
other words, comparative logic produces a cally world-historical.Absolutist states shared
conceptionof state-formationas historicallyand processes (of recoveryof aristocraticpower via
theoreticallyunaffectedby the changingorgan- political centralization)precisely because they
izational principles and structureof the world inhabiteda relationalsettingresponsiblefortheir
economy (cf. McMichael 1987a). In short, creation as territorially-based(as opposed to
conventionalcomparativedesign discountsthe dynastically-based)regimes in the first place.
world-historicalsignificance of modern social In these terms, state-buildingwas an interna-
revolutions. tional process, with "national"variantsshaped
Arguing that "our interest centers more on by this setting.
understandingnationalrevoltsthanon classify- The singularform of incorporatedcompari-
ing them"(Walton 1984, p. 175), Walton em- son. The singularform of "incorporatedcom-
ploys an alternativeform of generalizationthat parison"analyzes variationin or across space
is not abstractedfrom cases but emerges as an at an historicalconjuncture.It differs from the
historically-situatedgeneralizationspecifying multipleform in thatit focuses on the multilay-
"nationalrevolts"as particularforms of "capi- ered characterof a social configurationrather
talist revolution."Generalizationdependspre- than on its replicationacross time. Within the
cisely upon simultaneouslylocating anddiffer- world-historicalframe of reference,the singu-
entiatingthe revolts. Walton offers a formula lar form has a particularizingthrust, whereas
for "incorporatedcomparison" in which he themultipleformhas a generalizingthrust.They
maintainsthat"themost fertile avenue toward share the goal of historical specificity, but the
greaterrefinementlies not with the conceptual formerfocuses on a cross-sectionalanalysis in
premiseof separateuniversesbutalongthe same time (e.g., the conjuncture),whereas the latter
roadof continuitymarkedby differencesasso- focuses on process throughtime (e.g., the era).
ciatedwith the natureof the revolutionarysitu- These foci are not mutually exclusive and a
ation,class structure,andworldsystemimpact" combinationis both feasible and enhancing.
(Walton 1984, p. 188). Perhaps the best example is Polanyi's The
Another example of the multiple form of Great Transformation(1957) which employs
"incorporated comparison" is Anderson's both forms of incorporatedcomparisonin its
(1974) Lineages of the AbsolutistState, which overall critique of the ideology of economic

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394 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

liberalism.Polanyi reconstructsthe nineteenth world wheat marketbetween 1873-1935, she

centuryas a contradictoryconjuncturein which argues that capitalistproductionof wheat was
the self-regulatingmarketreorganizessocial and displaced by household production through
political life - from the labormarket,through conjuncturalmechanisms in the world econ-
the interstatesystem, to the internationalecon- omy, including changing technologies of pro-
omy. Here the comparisonof the substantivist duction and circulation and the role of New
(pre-capitalist)conception with the utilitarian Worldstate-buildingin securingfrontierlands.
conception of "economy"frames the critique "Specialized (household) commodity produc-
and explains the countermovements to the tion" on the U.S. plains successfully rivalled
marketsystem. British "capitalistproduction"in what other-
On the otherhand,Polanyi identifies the in- wise was an era of capitalist expansion based
stitutionalizationof the nation-statesystemwith on the new social importanceof wage labor
the imposition of the gold standard(although (both in terms of productionand wage-goods
he discounts Britain's hegemonic role). He consumption).
views the era as one in which the self-regulat- Proceedingwithin a world-economicframe-
ing mechanismof the gold standard(as institu- work, defined empirically as a world market
tional anchor of world commodity markets) "in which one price confrontedproducerseve-
subordinatednationaleconomic policy to cur- rywhere,"Friedmannemploys a comparative
rency stability.This was achieved throughthe analysis that simultaneouslydistinguishesand
institutionalframeworkof economic (central relates the producing regions conceptually
banking) and political (constitutionalism)ac- (Friedmann1978 p. 546). The relationshipbe-
countability-both key elementsof state-build- tween the Europeancapitalistproducerand the
ing. The goal of currencystabilityforced state New World commodity produceris mediated
managersto internalizethe exigencies of world by price movements, and the outcomes of this
tradethroughbudgetarypriorities,which in turn relationshipcrystallize in and throughthe na-
affected domesticpolitics, generatingcounter- tional political economy. The whole emerges
movementsto marketdiscipline.The varietyof throughthe action of its parts, namely, proc-
nationalpoliticalresponsesto the impactof the esses of class formation "with origins in the
marketandits politicalmanagementprovidesa world economy, but a location and political
comparativeaccount of the social contention expression within nationaleconomies" (Fried-
generatedin theprocessof Europeanstate-build- mann 1982, p. S255).
ing. In sum, Polanyi's work combines both Friedmann'sstudy of the post-WorldWarII
forms of comparisonin analyzingthe periodof international food regime9 follows a similar
economic liberalism as both a contradictory logic of inquiry in which the conjunctureis
conjunctureand a harbingerof political reac- explicitly defined as a political structuringof
tion leading to the greattransformation. the internationalfood order via "complemen-
The singularform of "incorporatedcompari- tary national policies." She examines two
son" is also exemplified in the work of Fried- momentsof the postwarfood order:the imme-
mann. Challengingworld-systemtheory func- diatepostwarregimewhose "principleaxis was
tionalism in which "themarketand the hierar- food aid from the United States to formerly
chy of nations are coterminous"(Friedmann self-sufficient agrarian societies" (1982, p.
1980, p. 248), she conceptualizesinternational
structuringin termsof "threemutuallydepend- world marketrelations(includingrivalrywith Brit-
ent but analyticallydistinct factors: state/state ain), and regional plantationrelations. Each set of
relations,transnational economicprocesses,and relationships was a necessary, but not sufficient,
class or sectoralrelationswithinnations"(Fried- condition of the characterof slave production.The
mann 1982, p. S253).8 In her account of the principlerelationship- of slaves to masters- ac-
tively realized these contextualconstraintsand ulti-
8 This kind of fluid multilayeredanalysiscaptures mately shaped them as an interactionof place in
the interconnections in motion, exemplified in world time.
Tomich's (1990) account of the decline of planta- 9 For a furtherdevelopmentof the concept of the
tion slavery in the French colony of Martinique. food regimein which the historicaldynamicbetween
Tomich employs several analytic levels as interre- capitalistagricultureand the nation-statetranscends
lated determinationsof modem slavery.Thus, slave the economic coherence of the state (compelling a
labordynamicsin the Frenchcolonies stemmedfrom rethinkingof analytical units), see Friedmannand
the interactionbetween the Frenchcolonial system, McMichael (1989).

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COMPARATIVEWORLD-HISTORICALANALYSIS 395

S248), and the decomposition of this order fied as a categoryamong variousothercatego-

during the 1970s into a more market-oriented ries," claiming that "reference to history as
regimecharacterizedby higherfood prices.The proletarianizationinvolves an attemptto grasp
"worldeconomy" is conceptualizedas the in- a totality"(1982, p. 204).
teractionof nationalpolitical economy and in- Commonto these approachesis an attemptto
ternationalprice relations - the latter being reconstructthe history of the capitalist world
,concreteexpressions of the internationaldivi- economy as a complex unity of social relation-
sion of labor and "the immediatesignals guid- ships anchored in wage labor and linked by
ing and constrainingstates, enterprisesand in- exchange relations, in which wage labor and
dividuals"(Friedmann1982,p. S254). otherformsof nonwage,value-producinglabor
Within the singular form of "incorporated coexist in time and space (see McMichael and
comparison,"multilayeredanalysis can be spa- Buttel 1990).This theoreticalperspectivelends
tial or temporal.In my researchon settleragro- itself to the methodology of "incorporated
exportsystems, I have triedto link both dimen- comparison":blending theory and history in
sions in establishing the parametersof social such a way to avoid abstractindividuality(e.g.,
change. Accounts of Australianwool-growing perceivingwage, slave, or peasantlaborin iso-
(McMichael 1984) and the ante-bellumcotton lation), and abstractgenerality (e.g., a world
culture(McMichael1987b, 1988, forthcoming) marketof undifferentiatedcommodityproduc-
are framedin termsof the reorganizingspatial ers). The point is to try to perceive the unity in
and ideological currentsof the nineteenthcen- diversity without reifying either. Insofar as
tury world economy. Spatially, the transition incorporatedcomparison works with units of
from mercantileto industrialcapitalism set a analysisspecified in time andplace, it enhances
trade- and price-unifiedworld market against the possibility of approachingthis goal.
politically-regulated markets of the various
colonial systems. The reorganizationof Lon- CONCLUSION
don-centeredcommercial financing, sponsor-
ing new needs for global inputs and markets, How can comparativeanalysiscapturevariation
spun a web of commercialcredit and competi- across time and space when time and space are
tive relationsaroundstapleproduction.On each not uniformand cannot be abstractedfrom the
frontier,commercially-specializedand migra- constructionof analyticalunits and categories?
tory growers proliferated,challenging the so- Underwhatconditionscan comparisonbe used
cial orderof the traditionalpartriarchalgrazier to reconstructchanging social relationsin and
andplanterclasses. These challenges informed of time and space?I arguethereis a strategyfor
a temporaldisjuncturebetween residualtradi- world-historically-oriented researchthatrefor-
tional-mercantilistand emergent liberal-com- mulates comparisonby subordinatingit to the
mercialconceptionsof local politicaleconomy, development of historically-groundedtheory
shapingthe midcenturypolitical strugglesover ratherthan using it to establish a causal logic
land andlaborsystems in each polity. In world- that is generalizable outside time and space
historical terms, they consolidated a global relations. In other words, where general (con-
wage-laborregime. nective/cumulative) processes of the modem
Roseberry(1982) extends this conception of world are organized by time and place, com-
a global wage-laborregime to modernpeasant- parison of time and place occurrencesreveals
ries, which he argues bear little relationto the continuitiesandatthe sametime attachesworld-
classic Europeanpeasantry (see also Llambi historicalmeaning to those occurrences.
1988). His analysis of Venezuelan coffee pro- Neither conventional comparativemethods
ducers as productsof the uneven development based on modernizationtheory's assumptions
of world capitalismmediatedby state and pro- of relatively uniform and discrete national so-
ducer politics leads him to reconceptualize cieties nor a theory of a permanentworld-sys-
"proletarianization"as a globalprocess that is temic structureadequatelyaccomplishthis. The
heterogeneous and contingent, producing "a point is to avoid "imperfect empiricism"
varietyof forms of laborrelations"(Roseberry (Spencer 1987) in which units of analysis are
1982, p. 206). Methodologically, Roseberry reified as self-evident or fixed entities. How-
reconstructsthe peasantconcept in world-his- ever, we can adapt the world-systemperspec-
toricalterms in orderto move "beyondthe ty- tive of a theoreticallysingular,yet historically
pological exercise by which peasants are rei- diverse,globalprocessas an approximatemeth-

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396 AMERICANSOCIOLOGICALREVIEW

odological principle. This resembles Laslett's Bonnell, Victoria E. 1980. "The Uses of Theory,
(1980) inversion of the conventionalinductive Concepts and Comparison in Historical
procedure,which generalizes outcomes from Sociology." ComparativeStudies in Society and
multiplecases. She proposes applyinga theory History 22:156-73.
Burawoy, Michael. 1989. "Two Methods in Search
of generalcauses to the analysis of "instances"
of Science: Skocpol versus Trotsky."Theoryand
in orderto relatetheoretically-general processes Society 18:759-805.
to historically-particular outcomes(cf. Hopkins Collins, Randall. 1984. "StatisticsVersus Words."
and Wallerstein 1981), demonstratingthat in Pp. 329-62 in Sociological Theory, edited by
history there are divergentmanifestationsof a RandallCollins. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.
singular process (e.g., market expansion, na- Elder,JosephW. 1976."ComparativeCross-National
tionalrevolt).Outcomes(as instances)may ap- Methodology."Pp. 209-30 in Annual Review of
pear individuallyas self-evidentunitsof analy- Sociology, Vol. 2, edited by Alex Inkeles. Palo
sis, but in reality are interconnectedprocesses. Alto, CA: AnnualReviews Inc.
Breakingout of the "modernizationproblem- Friedmann,Harriet.1978. "WorldMarket,State,and
Family Farm:Social Bases of HouseholdProduc-
atic" is a first step,10graspingworld-historical
tion in the Era of Wage Labor." Comparative
contingency is the next. I have tried to show Studies in Society and History 20:545-86.
that this can be addressedwith a multiple or a . 1980. "Review of The Capitalist World-
singular form of "incorporatedcomparison." Economy, by ImmannuelWallerstein."Contem-
The multipleform of comparisonaddressesthe porary Sociology 9:246-49.
problem of independentunits by focusing on . 1982. "The Political Economy of Food:
continuityacross time, while the singularform The Rise and Fall of the Postwar International
avoids the all-encompassingunit by inverting Food Order."AmericanJournal of Sociology 88
the part/wholerelation.However, it is not the (Supplement):S248-86.
form that mattersso much as the intent - to Friedmann, Harriet and Philip McMichael. 1989.
"Agricultureand the State System: The Rise and
develop historically-grounded social theory
Decline of National Agricultures, 1870 to the
throughthe comparativejuxtapositionof ele- Present."Sociologia Ruralis 29:93-117.
ments of a dynamic,self-formingwhole. Green, Gary P. and John R. Fairweather. 1984.
"Agricultural Production and Capitalism: The
PHILIP MCMICHAEL is Associate Professor of Rural StructuredandExpressiveOrientations."Sociolo-
Sociology at Cornell University.He has conducted gia Ruralis 24:149-56.
research on settler agrarian systems in Australia Hopkins, Terence K. 1978. "World-SystemAnaly-
and the UnitedStatesin the nineteenthcenturyworld sis: Methodological Issues." Pp. 199-218 in So-
economy, and is now working on the current cial Change in the Capitalist World Economy,
processes of internationalizationof states and agro- edited by BarbaraHockey Kaplan.Beverly Hills:
food systems. Sage.
Hopkins, Terence K., and Immanuel Wallerstein.
1981. "StructuralTransformationsof the World-
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