The Ecological Systems Theory by Urie Bronfenbrenner consists of an environmental approach to the development of the individual through the different environments in which he or she operates and which influence change and his or her cognitive, moral and relational development.

This theory can be applied in all areas of psychology and other sciences, since we assume that human development occurs in interaction with genetic variables and the environment, and it clearly exposes the different systems that make up personal relationships according to the context in which they are found.

Bronfenbrenner systems

From lesser to greater globality, Urie Bronfenbrenner names four systems that involve the primary nucleus understood as the same individual. The systems are the following: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem.

Microsystem

It constitutes the most immediate or closest level at which the individual develops. The scenarios included in this system are the family, parents or the school.

Mesosystem

It includes the interrelationship of two or more environments in which the person actively participates. It can also be understood as the linkage between microsystems. Clear examples may be the relationship between family and school, or between family and friends.

Exosystem

It refers to the forces that influence what happens in microsystems. In this case, the individual is not understood as an active subject. It is shaped, for example, by the nature of the parents’ work, the relationships that a teacher maintains with the rest of the faculty, etc.

Macrosystem

Refers to the social, cultural and structural conditions that determine in each culture the general features of the institutions, contexts, etc. in which the person and the individuals of their society develop. It is constituted by the values that are proper to a culture, customs, etc.

To these spatial domains should be added the chronosystem , which introduces the temporal dimension into the scheme. This includes the cultural evolution and the living conditions of the environment.

Criticisms of this theory

The main criticism of this environmentalist vision that we can find is that it pays little attention to the biological and cognitive factors of development in its essence. In addition, it does not provide a sequence of change in development as, for example, the theories of Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson do. However, by placing so much emphasis on the contextual aspect of human development, which is a space in which one can intervene directly, this theory is often used when speaking of networked education and the shared responsibility of education.

As social beings immersed in an environment with a determined culture and context, and at the same time, in constant transformation due to the globalized framework in which the zeitgeist places us, we can think that personal development is created from the cultural intermediaries and the interrelation of the systems mentioned in the Ecological Theory of Bronfenbrenner.

Not only we must mention the development through the theoretical interactions, but to approach the existing critics to the model, it is necessary to consider the interaction between the personality variables and the environment , since the sum of the systems is at the same time, socializing and individualizing agent, and serves to understand the development of the individual in different contexts.