Bioecological Perspective
To understand the life course of a child and how that child interacts with her /his environment. In the 1970s, Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) developed the ecological viewpoint to explain how all aspects of the environment affect the child and in turn how the child affects her/his environment.
The word ‘ecology’ describes how living things fit in with their environment. Later, it is renamed as bioecological model of development as it emphasizes how biology and environment interact to produce development.
This model provides a scheme for understanding how different social processes influence development in different periods.
In bioecological viewpoint, human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a child develops. It considers that all aspects of development are like the threads of a spider’s web, so that no aspect of development can be isolated from others. Bronfenbrenner divided the environment into the four levels as shown in figure
Bronfenbrenner proposed that individuals grow and develop within a nested set of influences that is classified as the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem.
The microsystem is the immediate environment in which the child lives in.
We know that the primary microsystem for a child is the family. The developing child may also experience other microsystems such as day care centre (crèche) or grandmother’s house, neighbourhood environments, etc. You would agree with us that interactions with immediate environment have an effect on the growing up of the child. Microsystems really influence development. The more encouraging and nurturing these relationships and places are, the better the child’s growth will be. Furthermore, how a child acts or reacts to these people in the microsystem will depend on how they treat her/him in return. You have realized the importance of family, day care centers, peer groups, schools and neighbourhood environments on child development.
The mesosystem consists of the interrelationships or linkages between two or more microsystems. Microsystems themselves are connected to create the mesosystem.
For example, a marital conflict in the family (one microsystem) could make a child withdraw from teachers and friends in the school (a second microsystem) and as a result her/his experience there become less intellectually stimulating.
Take another example that a child’s parent or caregiver (one microsystem) takes an active role in her /his schooling such as participating in parent-teacher meetings (a second microsystem) and enquiring about the progress of the child, this will help to ensure the overall growth of the child. Thus, you have come to know that mesosystem provides linkages across microsystems, because what happens in one microsystem is likely to influence others.
The exosystem refers to social settings that a child may not experience directly but that can influence her/his development.
For example, if a child’s parent lost job that may have negative effects on the child as she/he may feel difficulty in paying fees and purchasing other items. On the other side, a promotion of parent with hike in salary may have a positive influence on the child reassuring the ability to meet her/his educational needs.
The macrosystem is the largest cultural context in which the microsystem, mesosystem and exosystem are embedded.
It consists of cultural norms that guide the nature of the organizations and places that make up one’s everyday life. A mother, her workplace, her child and the child’s school are part of a larger cultural setting. For example, the macrosystem in India includes the ideology of democracy and individual freedom which affect the growth of the child as a responsible citizen. The macrosystem evolves over time and each posterity may develop in a unique macrosystem.
In addition to the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem, Bronfenbrenner introduced the concept of the chronosystem (‘chrono’ means time) to obtain the idea that changes in people and their environment occur in a time frame. We cannot study development in a static stage; we must use a video camera and understand how one event leads to another. For example, societal events like economic depressions, social policies, wars and technological breakthroughs change individual development while individuals, in turn, affect the course of history. (Modell & Elder, 2002).