By Susan Lang
A quarter-century ago, Cornell Professor Urie Bronfenbrenner developed his ground-breaking concept on the ecology of human de velopment. That theoretical model transformed how many social and behavioral scientists approached the study of human beings and their environments.
A new book has just been published that honors Bronfenbrenner, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of human development and family studies and of psychology. The book, Examining Lives in Context: Perspectives on the
Ecology of Human Development (American Psychological Association, 1995), assesses and builds upon his theoretical model. The final two chapters are writ ten by Bronfenbrenner.
"In this volume, more than two dozen distinguished scholars recast, reflect on and further extend Bronfenbrenner's theoretical framework in the light of their own research and theoretical perspectives," said Phyllis Moen, the Ferris Fam ily Professor of Life Course Studies at Cornell, director of Cornell's Bronfen brenner Life Course Center and the first editor of the book. Bronfenbrenner's theory is that development from childhood through adulthood and old age is influenced by one's changing social, cultural and economic environments, as well as one's personal life history of events,
beliefs, relationships and behaviors.
"These leading researchers cross borders of discipline, theory and method to ward a common destination in an uncharted terrain. That destination: an international and interdisciplinary understanding of the forces and experiences that shape human development through the life course in a rapidly changing world," Moen said.
The 706-page volume, co-edited by Moen, University of North Carolina's Glen H. Elder Jr. and University of Konstanz's (Germany) Kurt Luscher, is a tribute to Bronfenbrenner's thinking and lifelong accomplishments, Moen said. Those accomplishments, which include authoring numerous scientific pub lications and co-founding the Head Start program, also embrace an unusual ability to link theory, research and policy.