Christopher Chase-Dunn

American sociologist best known for his contributions to world-systems theory, and the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of over a dozen books. His most notable book, Global Formation: Structures of The World-Economy (1991), is a major theoretical synthesis and restatement of the world-systems approach to the study of social change.

Chase-Dunn earned his PhD in 1975 at Stanford University (studying under John W. Meyer) and has taught at The Johns Hopkins University (1975–2000) and at the University of California, Riverside (2000–present). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as President (2002–2006) of Research Committee 02 (Economy and Society) of the International Sociological Association from 2002 to 2006. He was Chair of the Section on International Political Economy of the International Studies Association from 1984 to 1986, and Chair of the Section on the Political Economy of the World-System of the American Sociological Association in 1982. He founded the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside. He is founding editor of the Journal of World-Systems Research, which is the official journal of the Political Economy of the World-System section of the American Sociological Association.