In the modern world-system, the division of labor consists of three zones according to the prevalence of profitable industries or activities: core, semiperiphery, and periphery.
[1][2] Resources are redistributed from the underdeveloped, typically raw materials-exporting, poor part of the world (the periphery) to developed, industrialized core.
Cyclical rhythms represent the short-term fluctuation of economy, while secular trends mean deeper long run tendencies, such as general economic growth or decline.
[2][3] Thus, we should focus not on individual states, but on the relations between their groupings (core, semi-periphery, and periphery).
"[4]and second as "…a social system, one that has boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of legitimation, and coherence.
A world-empire (examples, the Roman Empire, Han China) are large bureaucratic structures with a single political center and an axial division of labor, but multiple cultures.
[8] From around 19th century onward, due to the process of globalization, many scholars agree that there has been only one world-system, that of capitalism.