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Unit 4: Family

power that could successfully break Indian family’s self-imposed isolation from the families of the Notes
rest of the world. Marked change followed from the fourth decade of the twentieth century, particularly
after the independence.
It could now be said that changes from ‘traditional’to ‘transitional’ family include trends toward: (1)
neo-local residence, (2) functional jointness, (3) equality of individuals, (4) equal status for women,
(5) joint mate-selection, and (6) weakening of family norms.
Neo-local Residence

After marriage, children may live for some time with their parents but soon they prefer to live
separately. As urbanization and industrialization proceed, more and more young married couples
and their families find their residences being determined by the location of their jobs. Neo-local
residence is, therefore, becoming more common. Sometimes these neo-local families eventually return
to their stem (parental) families, but often they do not.
Functional Jointness

The neo-local residence may lead to weakening of ties with tertiary and distant kin but not with
primary and secondary kin living separately. The married sons and their wives continue to fulfil
their obligations to their parents and siblings. The ties are maintained with them not only because of
the obligation to them but also because of the affection and respect for them. Mutual help in various
exigencies of life (like sickness, old age, accident, unemployment, etc.) and economic co-operation
with primary and secondary kin remain important characteristics of neo-local families.
Equality of Individuals
Treating spouses and other members of the family on the basis of equality is part of a larger ideological
change. A pervasive philosophy of individualism which asserts the importance of the person over
the continuity of the group (family) appears to be spreading over much of the world. As such, patriarch
or parents in the family no longer try to impose their authority on the children but give them more
freedom now to determine their own goals and means to achieve them. The worth of the individual
is recognized and his/her wishes are now considered more important in the new family. The
individual’s status is evaluated not by his age or relationship but by his own accomplishments. As
such, the status of the family is determined for each generation anew.
Equal Status for Women
The joint family has been associated with the subordination of women. Women are assigned all the
domestic responsibilities and kept busy with cooking, cleaning, washing, and child-rearing roles.
They are given the status of sex partners but not the full legal and other rights of wives. The emerging
family is doing much to change this. The women are gaining a certain power. Coupled with this is
the fact that child marriages have been replaced by adult marriages and the fact that education for
girls is spreading rapidly. Women have also started taking up jobs in the expanding economy and
their salary is used for meeting the family expenses and raising the quality of life. In such families,
men have come to treat women on terms of equality. While the philosophy of equal rights for women
receives more acceptance in families of working women; in families of non-working women, however,
this is not much talked of. Because of women’s inability to make any economic contribution, the
power of money leads men in such families to expect deference from their wives. No family system
will grant full equality to women as long as the daily work involving house and children is regarded
as women’s responsibility.
Joint Mate-selection

In the ‘traditional’ family, the marriages for the children were arranged by parents without consulting
them. In the ‘transitional’ family, the parents and children jointly make selection of the spouses. This
joint selection reduces the chances of conflict and the newly married couple spends a few months/
years in the parental family before establishing a separate household. The newly married wife who

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