Urie Bronfenbrenner was a
Russian AmericanRussian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
psychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, known for developing his
Ecological Systems TheoryEcological systems theory, also called development in context or human ecology theory, specifies four types of nested environmental systems, with bi-directional influences within and between the systems.- Overview :...
, and as a co-founder of the Head Start program in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for disadvantaged pre-school children.
Urie Bronfenbrenner was a
Russian AmericanRussian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...
psychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
, known for developing his
Ecological Systems TheoryEcological systems theory, also called development in context or human ecology theory, specifies four types of nested environmental systems, with bi-directional influences within and between the systems.- Overview :...
, and as a co-founder of the Head Start program in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for disadvantaged pre-school children.
Background and career
Urie Bronfenbrenner was born to
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Jews, Dr. Alexander Bronfenbrenner and Eugenie Kamenetski Bronfenbrenner, in
MoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
,
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. When he was 6, the family moved from the USSR to the United States.
Bronfenbrenner attended
Cornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
on a scholarship, completing a double major in
psychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
in 1938. After earning an
M.A.A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in
developmental psychologyDevelopmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
, he completed a
Ph.D.Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
at the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1942. Thereafter he entered service in the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
as a psychologist. Following a brief stint at the Veterans' Administration following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Bronfenbrenner began teaching. First an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Michigan, he took a professorship at
Cornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1948. In the late 1960s to early 1970s, Bronfenbrenner served as a faculty-elected member of Cornell's Board of Trustees. At his death in 2005, Bronfenbrenner was the
Jacob Gould Schurman Professor EmeritusEmeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of Human Development and of Psychology in the
Cornell University College of Human EcologyThe New York State College of Human Ecology is a statutory college at Cornell University. The college is a unique compilation of studies on consumer science, nutrition, health economics, public policy, human development and textiles, each part of the discipline of human ecology.Students at the...
.
Ecological Systems Theory
Urie Bronfenbrenner is generally regarded as one of the world's leading scholars to focus on the interplay between research and policy on
child developmentChild development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
. Bronfenbrenner suggests child development research is better informed when institutional policies encourage studies within natural settings and theory finds greater practical application when contextually relevant. This perspective is well defined by Bronfenbrenner, who states, "...
basic science needs public policy even more than public policy needs basic science" (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 8, italics in original). It is from this vantage point that Bronfenbrenner conceives his primary contribution,
Ecological Systems TheoryEcological systems theory, also called development in context or human ecology theory, specifies four types of nested environmental systems, with bi-directional influences within and between the systems.- Overview :...
, in which he delineates four types of nested systems. He calls these the
microsystem (such as the family or classroom); the
mesosystem (which is two microsystems in interaction); the
exosystem (external environments which indirectly influence development, e.g., parental workplace); and the
macrosystem (the larger socio-cultural context). He later adds a fifth system, called the
Chronosystem (the evolution of the external systems over time). Each system contains roles, norms and rules that can powerfully shape development. This system is strikingly similar to the social networks approach of James Comer who was the first to put forward a model for school reform, the
School Development Program, and upon which nearly every school reform model to follow is built or is influenced by. Comer describes how children are nurtured in nested environments as depicted by a series of platforms of increasing size, the lowest and largest of which represents supporting
institutional policies. The next level up is the
secondary social network of schools, workplaces, and organizations providing access to recreational activities and needed health and social services. The second level from the top is the
primary social network which consists of religious centers and clubs, neighbors, friends and relatives, and the immediate family or primary caregivers. At the top and center of this system is innermost environment of the child which ostensibly plays as profound a role in development as anything external to the body. The inner environment of the child is conspicuously missing from Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and perhaps illustrates the point that Bronfenbrenner's work focuses not directly on the child but on how aspects of the much broader macrosystem directly impinge on what Comer calls the primary social network of the child.
Awards
- The James McKeen Catell Award from the American Psychological Society
- The American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
renamed its "Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society" as "The Bronfenbrenner Award."
- Chair, 1970 White House Conference on Children
- Served as Grand Marshal of the 1987 Crawfish Parade in Kingsland, Georgia
Kingsland is a city in Camden County, Georgia, United States. The population was 10,506 at the 2000 census.The City of Kingsland hosts an annual Catfish Festival on Labor Day weekend each year.-Geography:Kingsland is located at ....
.
Publications
- 1972. Two Worlds of Childhood. Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
. ISBN 0-671-21238-9
- Two Worlds of Childhood: US and USSR. Penguin (paperback, 1975). ISBN 0-14-081104-4
- 1973. Influencing Human Development. Holt, R & W. ISBN 0-03-089176-0
- 1975. Influences on Human Development. Holt, R & W. ISBN 0-03-089413-1
- 1979. The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
. ISBN 0-674-22457-4
- 1981. On Making Human Beings Human. Sage Publications Inc. ISBN 0-7619-2711-3
- 1996. The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next. New York: Free Press
Free Press is a book publishing imprint of Simon and Schuster. It was founded by Jeremiah Kaplan and Charles Liebman in 1947 and was devoted to sociology and religion titles. It was headquartered in Glencoe, Illinois, where it was known as The Free Press of Glencoe...
. ISBN 0-684-82336-5. Lony Tunes
External links