Urie Bronfenbrenner was born on April 29, 1917 to Russian Jews in Moscow. His family moved to the United States at age six and lived in Letchworth Village. He acquired degrees from the prestigious Cornell, Harvard, and University of Michigan. Bronfenbrenner entered the United States army as a psychologist. He is also a co-founder of the Head Start program for disadvantaged pre-school children. Bronfenbrenner is most known for developing the Ecological System Theory. This theory changed the way scientists and psychologists studied human beings and the environments surrounding them. There are five systems included in this theory. They are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and the chronosystem. The microsystem is the first of the five systems that Bronfenbrenner included in his theory. It involves those closest to the child such as family, friends, teachers, or neighbors. This immediate environment develops the child into who they are depending on the content or structure of their particular microsystem. These relationships impact the child both away from the child, and towards the child.
These bi-directional influences have the strongest impact on the child. The second system included in Bronfenbrenner’s theory is the mesosytem. This system connects the structures of the microsystem, and links the child with his or her immediate surroundings. The responsibility between parents and teachers to assist in the education of their children and students is equal. Education must be carried over into the home after the school day ends. The exosystem is the outer shell around the microsystem and the mesosytem. The child does not function directly through the exosytem but he or she will feel the positive and negative effects of it. Examples are schedules of a parent’s workplace or community based family resources. The outermost layer in Bronfenbrenner’s theory is the macrosystem. It pertains to the laws, customs, and cultural values. All previous systems are affected by the macrosystem. The last developed system was the Chronosystem.
The Essay on Systems Theory
Whitchurch, G. G., & Constantine, L. L. (1993). Systems theory. In P. G. Boss, W. J. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R. Schumm, & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach (pp. 325-352). New York: Plenum Press. Three Distinct But Closely Interrelated Theoretical Legacies Information theory: focuses on the reduction of uncertainty which is achieved by ...
