ABSTRACT
This section presents and elaborates on the concept of macrosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model of development. Similar to the concepts of culture or society, the macrosystem is made up of the consistencies or similarities that occur across the settings and subsystems of the ecosystem, along with the beliefs or laws that support those similarities. Thus, macrosystem is an abstract idea that is represented by the common features of a particular ecosystem. As examples, if dwellings tend to be similarly constructed and/or contain typical furnishings or design, the type of dwelling might be a feature of the macrosystem. If people in a particular geographic area make art or design similarly, those art or design styles would be part of the macrosystem. More importantly, if families in a region or group tend to be structured and function in particular ways, those family relations would be said to be part of the macrosystem, and we would find that people’s beliefs about families, as well as the legal system of the society, would favor those particular forms of relationships.
