Overview of Social Ecological Model

Intercultural conflict is a multilevel and multicontextual phenomenon. While past intercultural studies tend to use either a mac­rolevel lens or a microlevel view to analyze intercultural conflict, the social ecological perspective pays particular attention to mul­tiple levels of analysis of a complex intercul- tural conflict case.

A multilevel theorizing process may illus­trate that a particular intercultural con­flict case contains both consistencies and inconsistencies at multiple levels of analysis. Additionally, a multilevel perspective helps illustrate the multitude of factors that shape cultural worldview level, institutional level, immediate community level, and individual level concerning conflict decoding process within and across distinct levels (Oetzel, Arcos, Mabizela, Weinman, & Zhang, 2006; Oetzel, Dahr, & Kirschbaum, 2007). The social ecological framework is an interdis­ciplinary approach that gained momentum in the mid-1960s and early 1970s to better address the influences of cultural and social contexts on human behavior and develop­ment (Brofenbrenner, 1977; Klein, Tosi, & Cannella, 1999; Stokols, 1996).

On a broad level, Stokols (1996) explains that the social ecological perspective consists of five core principles. First, communication outcomes are influenced by the cumula­tive effects of multiple physical, cultural, social, and temporal factors. Second, com­munication outcomes are also affected by individual attributes and specific situations. Third, social ecology incorporates concepts from systems theory, such as interdependence and homeostasis, to further understand the relationship between individuals and their broader contexts. Fourth, social ecology recognizes not only the interconnections among multiple settings but also the inter­dependence of conditions within particular settings. Fifth, the social ecological perspec­tive is interdisciplinary, involves multilevel domain analysis, and incorporates diverse methodologies.