Challenges Faced by the Family Unit in Socializing Children

Task one
1. (a) Describe a child’s ecology as proposed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System
Model.
Urie Bronfenbrenner a Russian-American developmental Psychologist developed the
model of Ecological System theory, whichinterpreted the development of the child with its
environment. This model tried to show how the inherent qualities of the child and his or her
respective environment influences the further development and growth of the child.
According to his model,the study of child’s development witnesses multiple environment
simultaneously ( Ryan, 2001). Therefore, the child finds himself or herself enmeshed in the
different ecosystems and each of these ecosystems invariably interacts and influences the
every aspect of the child’s life. In the Fig.1 the layers of Bronfenbrenner model is
diagrammatically represented.
1) Microsystem- this refers to the smallest system and it is the immediate environment in
which the child lives. Thus,microsystem can comprises of homes, family, neighbourhood or
community environment of the child.The development of the child is shaped by the
immediate environment he or she is in therefore the child is highly dependent and are mostly
affected in this environment.
2)Mesosystem- The Mesosystem is premised on the different conjunction of microsystem, it
comprises of systems of microsystem that involves the linkage between various micro
systems. For instance linkage between home and school, or between peer group and family.
3) Exosystem- The Exosystem contains two or more settings, out of which one may contain
the settings that will affect the child directly and the other will affect him or her indirectly.
For instances the workplace of the parent’s or the larger neighbourhood.

4) Macrosystem- this is the largest system and it refers to the distant collection of people and
places that can exercise influence in the development process of the child. In this section, the
cultural patterns and the values of the child’s dominant beliefs and idea are shaped in respect
to the economic and political development.
5) Chronosystem- This system adds the dimension of time along with the changing
perspective of time. It demonstrates both the change and thee constancy in the process of
child’s development. In this system, varieties of things like change in family structure or
change in the parent’s employment status are covered along with the changes that are taking
place in the economical and political sectors.
Fig. 1: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory
(Source: psychologynoteshq, 2013 )

(b) Explain how each component of the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological influences a child’s
socialization process.
Socialization process is the process of internalization of the norms and the ideologies
of the society. Thus, it encompasses both the learning and the imbibing of the roles that
becomes the essential indicators of one’s social and cultural history. According to this model
described by Bronfenbrenner, there are five layers, which underlies the child’s development
process premised on both the biological and social development of the child (Obasi et al.,
2016). This model helps to understand the development process of the child along with the
context that he or she is emplaced in. In his analysis, Bronfenbrenner concludes that the child
in his coming years develops a complex nature and the chance of this complex nature comes
along with the complexity of the physical and cognitive structures of the child. The five
layers are as follows: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and
Chronosystem. These systems affects the development of child in various levels.
The microsystem contains the closest environment to the child and includes all the
structures that are directly responsible for the development of the child. The microsystem
represents the pattern of activities, relations and the roles that are involved in the inter-
personal relationship of the child. For instance, the child’s parents have a strong influence on
the child but on the other side, the child can also influence the parent’s beliefs and behaviour
(Hornby et al., 2011). This bi-directional influence from the child and towards the child has a
powerful influence on the child. The child relation is dyadic at first then he learns to handle
several situation simultaneously. In this way micro system affects the child learning and the
initial recognition process.
The Mesosystem comprises of the linkage between two or more setting related to
development of the person. This system represents the system of microsystem because in this
layer connections are produced between the child microsystems. For instance, the connection

between the child’s teacher and the parents. In this system, the child can receive different
perspective of other people that may or may not coincide with the microsystem. In this way
Mesosystem opens up vistas of unknown facts that will influence the child’s process of
development.
The Exosystem represent the two or more connection where one is having direct
influence over the child and the other is indirectly influencing the child personality.For
example the child’s relationship between his or her parents in home and the parents relation
to their employment status. Though the child do not belong to the parent’s workplace, it still
has the sufficient influences that can affect the identity building of the child. Thus, the child
is recognised asparticipant as well as the member of wider society.
The Macrosystem consists of the over-arching pattern of micro, meso, and exo-
systems. It includes the social and cultural aspects that are existing in the broader context.
The belief system, the life styles or the life course options reflects the patterns of social
interchange that are embedded in each of these systems. In this system the behaviour and the
attitudinal trait get transferred from one generation to the other with the help of the cultural
institutions like family school and so on. This system penetrate all the system and contains
the cultural values and the traditions and laws and so on. This system also hold on the
educational values that mould the behaviour of the child in the initial socialization process.
The Chronosystem refers to the change that take place in respect to the temporal
dimension. This system describes the evolution, or the development of the external systems
in time. The changing pattern does have a direct influence in the socialization of the child but
in wider scope time it exercises influence over it.