The Social Ecological Perspective of human behavior and development maintains a multidimensional focus on diverse persons in diverse environments. Carel B. Germain and Martin Bloom succinctly present this ecological view on the observation that human beings and their social environments always form a unified - though not necessarily harmonious - configuration; this configuration is the basic unit of analysis for understanding the factual material encountered in social work.

Employing the person-and-environment approach to examine all aspects of human development, Human Behavior in the Social Environment discusses the biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences that shape the functioning of individuals, families, households, social groups, communities, and organizations, and relates how these collectives affect development over the life course.

It also takes into account the expected and unexpected stresses, challenges, and life tasks that can influence development within social environments.