Bronfenbrenner's Developmental Ecology Model: A Case Study

Keisha Jenkins. According to the RMMDI (Abes et al., 2007, as cited in Patton et al., 2016) multiple identities may be differentially affected by contextual influences. In the incident at SPCC, Keisha, a Black female student, felt unsafe on campus and had to take time off from work because she felt particularly affected by the incident. Though Keisha’s other identities, such as her sexuality, may not have been salient in her experience of the incident, she felt that her identity as a Black individual and as a Black female were targeted. Thus, it is likely that resolution efforts that solely focus on supporting those with Black identities and those with female identities in separation will not properly address Keisha’s experience. A intersectional …show more content…
It is used in higher education to provide a way to understand how students interact with campus environments to promote or inhibit development (Renn & Arnold, 2003, as cited in Patton et al., 2016). Bronfenbrenner’s Developmental Ecology Model (1973, 1993 as cited in Patton et al., 2016) focuses on four components, that make up the models approach to analyzing a person’s interaction with their environment. The components that make up the model are Process, Person, Context, and Time (PPCT) (as cited in Patton et al., …show more content…
Of the four components, Context can be broken down into four levels: the macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem. The microsystem is meant to hold the people and concepts closest to the individual. The mesosystem is meant to hold the places that form the environment that the individual regularly inhabits, like a workspace or a home. The exosystem is meant to hold the intangible policies and entities that affect the individual. The macrosystem is the community or world at large, as it is seen or experienced by the individual. Most of our students are focused within the microsystem and mesosystem for their more immediate concerns of safety and violation, because they are scared for those close to them and the spaces that they had once held to be safe spaces meant for people who identify as they do. While some of them (Andi and Bryan) grow to be disgruntled with the system and society that has allowed or encouraged the incident that made them feel unsafe, thus reaching into the exosystem, only Mi-Na Pak was really concerned with the macrosystem of the ideas of American culture and her safety in regard to her nationality and what culture she had experienced in her home in South