Meaning and origins
Ecology began as the biology of organisms and their environment. In the 1920s Robert Park and Ernest Burgess at the University of Chicago applied concepts such as competition, invasion and succession to the city, founding human ecology (Chicago School urban ecology). Amos Hawley (1950) systematized it as the way populations organize to adapt to their environment.
Main strands
- Human ecology: urban spatial structure, population distribution and community change.
- Ecological systems theory: Bronfenbrenner placed the individual within micro-, meso-, exo-, macro- and chronosystems.
- Ecological perspective in social work: Germain and Gitterman's life model, combined with general systems theory, stresses the person-in-environment.
Key concepts in social work
- Goodness of fit: how well needs match environmental resources
- Adaptation: person and environment changing to fit each other
- Life stress and coping: strain when fit breaks down and the capacity to handle it
- Competence, relatedness, autonomy: capacities for effective interaction with the environment
Evaluation
It locates problems in person-environment relations rather than individual deficits, supporting integrated intervention. Critics say it is too broad to specify techniques and pays little attention to power and conflict.
References
- Park, R. E., Burgess, E. W., & McKenzie, R. D. (1925). The City. University of Chicago Press.
- Hawley, A. H. (1950). Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure. Ronald Press.
- Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Harvard University Press.
- Germain, C. B., & Gitterman, A. (1980). The Life Model of Social Work Practice. Columbia University Press.