The Ecological perspective in Social Work

Question 1

The ecological perspective (3):

Answer 1

• Development should be viewed in terms of the interrelationship of a person’s physical, cognitive personality and social worlds.
• Each person functions in particular microsystems linked through the mesosystems and embedded in the larger exosystem, microsystem in a time frame.
• PIE approach.

Question 2

The microsystem:

Answer 2

- Relations between the developing person and his/her 
immediate environment (e.g. family, school, neighborhood).

Question 3

The meso-system (2):

Answer 3

• This level provides the connection between the structures of the developing person’s microsystem.
• The developing person is an active participant in both/all settings (e.g. family/work/social life interrelations).

Question 4

The exo-system:

Answer 4

• An exo-system refers to one or more settings that do not involve the developing person as an active participant, but in which events occur that affect, or are affected by, what happens in the setting containing the developing person (e.g. the benefit system).

Question 5

The macro-system:

Answer 5

• The macro-system refers to patterns in the form and content of other systems (micro-, meso- and exo-) that exist, or could exist, at the level of the subculture or the culture as a whole, along with any belief systems or ideology underlying such patterns.

Question 6

The chrono-system:

Answer 6

• The chrono-system (chrono=time) - The environment is dynamic and ever- changing.
• Whenever individuals take on or let go of roles or settings in their lives, the breadth of their microsystems changes.