Answer to Question #309033 in Philosophy for Lungelo

Question

Differentiate between the five levels of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological model of human development

Answer 1

Bronfenbrenner believed that a person's development was affected by everything in their surrounding environment. He divided the person's environment into five different levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem.

The microsystem is the system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact. Some examples would be home, school, daycare, or work. A microsystem typically includes family, peers, or caregivers. Relationships in a microsystem are bi-directional. In other words, your reactions to the people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return. This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory.

The mesosystem consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person's microsystem. The mesosystem is where a person's individual microsystems do not function independently but are interconnected and assert influence upon one another. These interactions have an indirect impact on the individual.

The exosystem is a component of the ecological systems theory developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner in the 1970s. It incorporates other formal and informal social structures, which do not themselves contain the child, but indirectly influence them as they affect one of the microsystems.

The macrosystem is a component of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory that focuses on how cultural elements affect a child's development, such as socioeconomic status, wealth, poverty, and ethnicity. Thus, a culture that individuals are immersed within may influence their beliefs and perceptions about events that transpire in life.

The Chronosystem consists of all of the environmental changes that occur over the lifetime which influence development, including major life transitions, and historical events. These can include normal life transitions such as starting school but can also include non-normative life transitions such as parents getting a divorce or having to move to a new house.