Children and Families in the Social Environment

The first edition of this volume successfully applied Bronfenbrenner's "micro-systems" taxonomy to childrearing and family life. Emphasizing how forces in the environment influence children's behavior, Garbarino has staked out an intermediate position between the psychoanalytic and the systems approach to human development. Taking cognizance of new research and of changes in American society, Garbarino has once again carefully analyzed the importance of children's social relationships. For this wholly revised second edition, he has incorporated a greater emphasis on ethnic, cultural, and racial issues.

1: An Introduction; 2: The Ecology of Human Development; 3: Sociocultural Risk and Opportunity; 4: The Family as a Social System; 5: The Developing Child in a Changing Environment; 6: The Ecology of Childbearing and Child Rearing; 7: Cultural Diversity and Identity Formation; 8: The Territory of Childhood; 9: Developmental Issues in the Human Services; 10: Social Policy, Children, and Their Families; 11: In Conclusion: The Issue Is Human Quality; Afterword: What Does It Mean To Be Human?