At the root of social work is the concept of “person in environment”—the idea that every person must be considered not just as an individual, but also within the context of his or her environment. This is one of the most fundamental ideas new social work students first study, and the basis for Social Systems Theory, which explains human behavior as the intersection of three interrelated systems. These systems are known as “micro,” “mezzo” and “macro” systems.
Macro systems encompass large systems of society and in this “Macro Systems” video (one of two videos in the Human Behavior and the Environment set), Smith illustrates this expansive system and the role social workers play in it. Using New York’s University “Settlement House,” the first settlement house in the country, as her model, Smith interviews its CEO and explores how this large institution provides such a vast array of social services to the city. Smith visits the senior center at University Settlement House to meet with the social workers there and see first-hand how a macro system operates. She learns that this large system impacts many individuals and again provides clear examples of the interrelated influences of micro, mezzo, and macro systems.
