Columbia University School of Social Work
 
T660A Human Behavior and the Social Environment A

Overview and Rationale

The course adopts a Developmental Life Course Perspective (DLCP) (Elder, 1988) that situates the aging process within a socio-historical context. Individuals develop and age within a series of relationships that evolve across time, both shaping and being shaped by the individual. This network of relationships is itself situated at a historical time and cultural location that have a reciprocal influence on the individual. This two-semester course provides the foundation knowledge for self-reflective practice with individuals, families and groups in their interactions with environmental factors and social systems. The purpose of the course is to engage the student's "sociological imagination" about human behavior, deepening students' understanding of the impact of the environment on the individual generally and at various stages of the human life course. Within this context, developmental trajectories and processes are examined.

This course is conceived as an essential foundation for social work practice as it embodies the person in environment perspective. Although social work practice is not directly discussed in this course, students will be asked to reflect upon their assumptions about how the social environment impacts developmental phases and trajectories. Students then will be more able to use the concepts of the DLCP to guide their direct practice work. To this end, broad concepts such as race, risk, resilience, power and privilege are examined. In totality, the two semesters will examine specific developmental stages and critical factors that shape and influence human behavior and developmental trajectories.

Learning Outcomes

In this course, students will learn to . . .

  1. Articulate the core principles of the Developmental Life Course Perspective and how they apply across the life course.
  2. Identify how phenomena of risk and protection apply across developmental phases and trajectories.
  3. Analyze the ways that social, political, historical, racial, biological, and/or economic factors shape and influence human behavior and developmental trajectories.
  4. Demonstrate critical thinking around issues of power and privilege by integrating course material and current research with material pertaining to a case or contemporary social problem.
  5. Illustrate knowledge of a range of issues impacting the developmental trajectories by discussing research findings relevant to the topic.

Council on Social Work Education Core Competencies

This course contributes toward mastery of the following core areas of social work competency identified by the Council on Social Work Education.

Social workers . . .

  • Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.
  • Engage diversity and difference in practice.
  • Advance human rights and social and economic justice.
  • Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.
  • Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
  • Respond to contexts that shape practice.

Core Content Themes

  • Developmental life course
    The Developmental Life Course (DLC) perspective provides an important organizing framework for this course With this perspective, individual lifespan development is situated in the social, political, and historical context within which it occurs. Emphasis is placed on the timing of events and aspects of human agency. It is the essential starting point from which we will begin to examine notions of human development.
     
  • Analysis of concepts underlying human development (e.g., nature versus nurture, childhood, work)
    The year-long sequence in Human Behavior and the Social Environment is designed to challenge students to hone their skills in creative and critical thinking. Toward this end, students will be required to examine critically current and provocative literature in ways that are deeper and nuanced, and that reflect sensitive awareness and serious thought in entertaining, and even struggling with, multiple and perhaps conflicting perspectives. In class discussion and written assignments, it will not be sufficient to state simply that you do not agree with an author's perspective. Rather, students will be expected to articulate why a different perspective is more compelling, and then to identify weaknesses or limitations even in their own perspectives. Moreover, students should endeavor to think creatively and critically about applying knowledge from this course in their work with clients and to other areas of the curriculum, including courses in direct practice, policy, and advocacy. Conversely, students should also endeavor to integrate material from field placement and other areas of the curriculum into this course. Class discussions will provide a forum for students to stimulate and respectfully challenge each other in broadening and sharpening their thinking, in tolerating ambiguity and respecting diverse views, and in processing intuitions and emotional reactions, which are not always easy to articulate.
     
  • The impact of inequality across the life course
    The course will critically examine the issue of inequality across the life cycle. A historical analysis will be offered that will bring into focus the causes and effects of inequality in the economic, social and international political arena. The consequences of inequality at various stages of the life cycle from early childhood through later stages of adulthood will be connected to discussions of risks and resilience, health and mental illness.
     
  • Risk and resilience across the life course
    Issues of risk and resilience and the protective factors that serve to mitigate factors of risk are multifaceted and influenced by both natural and nurturant factors. Occurring throughout the life course, resilience implies the active process of grappling with conditions of risk in order to achieve a new sense of equilibrium and continue along developmental life trajectories. It is important to develop critical awareness of the themes in people's lives that make them particularly vulnerable to risk and, conversely, the biopsychosocial supports that enable individuals to successfully navigate personal or societal challenges.
     
  • The impact of immigration across the life course
    The migration and adaptation process is a profound process across the life course. It affects individual and family development. Immigrants are disproportionately represented among the economically disadvantaged, have smaller support networks, and face a myriad of tasks related to adjustment to a new environment. The political, cultural, economic, and/or social conditions that compel or force an individual across national borders are an important beginning place to understanding the migration process. Examining issues of labor, human rights, and citizenship are critical to understanding the immigrant experience.