Joint and nuclear family related information
Answers
A family when lives together with all family members up to 2nd generation like grand parents, parents, uncle, aunts and their children is called a joint family . The importance of joint family is understood by the Indians since time immemorial.
But while young people are going advanced with their lifestyles, they are shy away from living jointly with their parents and grandparents. These people are usually missed a lot of fun, caring, elder guidance from time to time which causes a lot of problems in the future like loneliness, frustrations. In the joint family , all members are equally sharing all expenses, works and other things with the other members of the family so the burden of work will not be felt by any single person. All children get equal share of love, care, guidance and education by the elder grandparents so that they never miss anything in their whole life.
Similarly they can also easily get help from their parents. Small children will get teaching guidance from their uncle, aunts, and other family members. The sharing resources with the cousins and sisters help parents to minimize the expenses on their child. On the eve of big occasions like marriage, birthdays, engagements, anniversaries etc., the whole work can easily be shared with all members so that the event will be successful. This will bring down the burden from the parents.
A nuclear family is an autonomous unit free from the control of the elders. Since there is physical distance between parents and their married children, there is minimum interdepen¬dence between them. Thus, a nuclear family is mostly independent. The American family is a typical example of the modern independent nuclear family.
The nuclear family is a characteristic of all the modern industrial societies. As Lowie writes: “It does not matter whether marital relations are permanent or temporary ; whether there is polygyny or polyandry or sexual licence;……. the one fact stands out beyond all others that everywhere the husband, wife and immature children constitute a unit apart from the remainder of the community”.
According to T.B. Bottomore, the universality of the nuclear family can be accounted for by the important functions that it has been performing. The nuclear family has been performing the sexual, the economic, the reproductive, and the educational functions. According to him, the indispensability of these and a few other functions has contributed to universality.
Anthropologists too have consistently emphasised the economic functions of the family in primitive societies. A major factor in maintaining the nuclear family is economic co-operation based upon division of labour between sexes. Levi Strauss has said much about the miserable situation of unmarried individuals in most of the primitive societies.
The Structure of Nuclear Family:
The nuclear family depends very much on incest taboos. The members of the family cannot have marriage from among themselves. Hence it is confined to two generations only. A third genera¬tion can be established by the formation of new families.
This can be done by an exchange of males and females between existing nuclear families. It means daughters can be given in marriage to other nuclear families and girls of the other nuclear families can be taken in as spouses to the sons. This gives rise to two kinds of nuclear families: (a) the family of orientation, and (b) the family of procre¬ation.
Every normal adult in every human society belongs to two nuclear families. The first is the family of orientation in which the person was born and brought up, and which includes his father, mother, brothers and sisters. The second is the family of procreation which the person establishes by his marriage and which includes the husband or wife, the sons and daughters.
The structure of the nuclear family is not the same everywhere. Bottomore makes a distinction between two kinds of family system; (i) the family systems in which the nuclear family is relatively independent, and (ii) systems in which the nuclear family is incorporated in, or subordinated to, a larger group, that is to the polygamous or the extended family. The independent nuclear family is more often incorporated in some larger composite family structure.
The independent nuclear family which is dominant in modern industrial societies has emerged mainly due to the growth of individualism and intense geographic and social mobility. The social welfare functions of the modern state have also affected it. The state now comes to the help of the individual to face misfortunes. Hence he is no longer dependent on his family in times of distress.
The modern nuclear family is mostly found in the advanced societies of the West and in the U.S.A. Its solidarity largely depends on sexual attractions and the companionship between husband and wife and between parents and children. But the family bonds tend to weaken as the children grow up.
Hey friend,
Ok , now lets keep my opinion a side and talk of all the consequences .. and then iIll say u my opinion with full explanation ..
True personal happiness is rarely achieved through professional endeavours or wealth. Over the last half century, there have been immense changes in our views... (:
Thus the most frequent reason given for studying has changed to be an authority in a field or helping others to the desire to make a lot of money. Also personal computers, cellular phone and digital media have begun to integrate into daily life style!... ^_- .Consequently deep rooted transformations have been originated in our culture- a shift away from values of community, spirituality, and integrity toward competition, materialism and disconnection.
Although these things may be nice extras, I totally agree that healthy relationships with family, friends and colleagues are the true keys to personal happiness.! This will be shown by analysing the often lonely lives of many wealthy celebrities as well as the advice of older people who speak from experience.
More over , it has been proved millions of times that money can’t buy happiness...^_^
From this, it is evident that there is no substitute of healthy relationships if one wants to bring delight in his life. Thus, keeping in touch with people is much more than just a courtesy. All achievements would become pointless other than relations.
#Keep smiling !