ABSTRACT
The section includes a brief overview of the career of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005), the developmental psychologist who taught Human Development and Family Studies at Cornell University for several decades. Bronfenbrenner created a framework for analysis of the social contexts that shape development, referring to it as the Ecology of Human Development, the title of his 1979 book. Bronfenbrenner criticized researchers and policymakers for failing to take seriously the role of the ecosystem in their studies, and developed his framework to guide scientists in conducting ecologically valid research. The author points out that Bronfenbrenner’s framework is considered critical in the study of Human Development and Families, but is not as well understood or used as it should be. He describes how Bronfenbrenner’s concepts are important in his own work and teaching, and suggests that they are not used and not well understood because they are not easy to teach or learn. The current book is a primer to assist teachers and students to learn the framework and to apply it.
