Rethinking Ethnic Minority Young People’s Participation in Multiple Sociocultural Contexts and Its Impact on Their Cultural Identities

Abstract

Back in 1979, Urie Bronfenbrenner proposed his ecological model of human development, a multi-level system which describes how individuals relate with their multiple social contexts. In 1991, Carl Ratner proposed a modification of Bronfenbrenner—s basic model in which the layers are pictured as interpenetrating. This illustrates how the macrosystem passes through an individual—s exosystems and microsystems and how the impacts of all these systems influence the development of an individual. However, although both versions of the model illustrate well how individuals are connected with their multiple contexts they are still models that have a monolithic image of society. What happens in the case of ethnic minority children and young people who are members of a pluralistic society?