Question

Discuss the concept of family. Explain the changing forms of family in India. 500 words

Answer 1

Is joint family structure being nuclearised? Our contention is that “jointness of family in India is not disappearing and that stage can never be envisaged when the joint family will be lost in the mental horizon of the people; only the ‘cutting off point of jointness is changing. Instead of large joint families, we will have only locally functioning effective small joint families of two generations or so.
At the same time, a nuclear fis­sioned family (of husband, wife and unmarried children) will not be totally independent but will be functionally dependent on (i.e., remain joint with) some primary kin like father or brother, etc. This is evident from various empirical studies conducted by various scholars in different parts of the country. We will analyse change in jointness at two levels: structural and interactional.
(i) Nuclearity is increasing and jointness is decreas­ing;
(ii) Spirit of individualism is not growing, as about half of the households are joint with other households; and
(iii) The radius of kinship relations within the circle of jointness is becoming smaller. The joint relations are mostly confined to parents-children, siblings, and uncles-nephews, i.e., lineal relationship is found between father, son and grand­son, and the collateral relationship is found between a man and his brothers and uncles.