Table of Contents

1. The Person and Environment Configuration 1. The Ecological Perspective 2. Society, Culture, Community, and the Physical Environment as Contexts 3. Complex Organizations as Contexts 4. Schools and Work Sites as Special Contexts 5. Small Groups as Contexts 6. Families as Contexts 7. Genetics/Biology 2.Tandem Developments of Family Members and Their Environments 8. Family Formation in a Diverse Society 9. Family Transformations: Birth, Infancy, and Language-The Socialization of Children and Parents 10. Family Transformations: Childhood 11. Family Transformations: Adolescence 12. Family Transformations: Adulthood 13. The Elderly Family and Its Transformations Appendix 1: Stage Models of Behavior and Development Appendix 2: Nonstage Models of Behavior and Development Appendix 3: Macrosocial and Microsocial Theories of Human Behavior

Promotional Information

Designed to help students build a theoretical foundation for their professional practice, this book highlights human and environmental diversity, and discusses the relationships among biological, psychological, social, and cultural systems that shape human behavior. This new edition provides the latest theoretical developments and research findings in the social, behavioral, and biological sciences and includes new chapters on the significant forces affecting significant social behavior in specific organizational and educational settings.

About the Author

The late Carel B. Germain was professor of Social Work emerita at the University of Connecticut. She is the coauthor of The Life Model of Social Work Practice: Advances in Theory and Practice, Second Edition and editor of Social Work Practice: People and Environments.Martin Bloom is professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Connecticut and works in the area of primary prevention theory, practice, and research. He is the author of Primary Prevention Practice and coauthor of Evaluating Practice: Guidelines for the Accountable Profession and Successful Aging.