Page 110 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 4: Family

On the other hand, the causes for preferring nuclear families or separate dwellings are to avoid Notes
conflicts, to get more freedom from family control, and to have a place which one may call as one’s
own and do as one likes, to get more privacy, to pursue one’s educational aspirations and social
ambitions, and to remain economically independent and thus achieve higher standards of living by
taking to the occupation of one’s own choice.
Functional and Dysfunctional Aspects of Change

The change in the structure from traditional to fissioned or transitional or residential nuclear family
as well as change in attitudes in favour of nuclearity and against jointness is both functional as well
as dysfunctional. It is functional, first because traditional (joint) family creates drones and parasites.
Some members do not work thinking that other family members are there to support them. This is
because the traditional (joint) family functions on the principle of “one for all and all for one”. Even
if a person does not earn anything, he, his spouse and his children get the same attention from the
family head as the children of earning members get. Therefore, even if these non-earning members
try to get some job, the efforts are half-hearted. This leads to suspicions, misunderstandings, and
quarrels affecting the harmonious relations of members and the organization of family. Second, joint
family curbs individualism. The youngsters have become conscious of their rights and status and
demand re-orientation of relationship within the family. But the elders, being trained in the old
traditions, deny it because of which children lose initiative of hard work. Third, joint family is a hot
bed of quarrels and bickerings. A woman whose husband earns more agitates, revolts and demands
separation. Most of the quarrels start because of the narrow-minded, suspicious, conservative, jealous,
superstitious, talkative and quarrelsome women. The uneven distribution of burden of work among
women, the upbringing of children, and the differentiation in treatment of women by the elders also
becomes a frequent source of trouble. Further, the very nature of the joint family creates tensions
among the members because either they are unwilling to adjust themselves by accepting the roles
and duties assigned to them by their position in the family or because they are incapable of
accommodating members who deviate a little from the traditional pattern. Finally, joint family
adversely affects the status of women. They lead a life of drudgery and have no voice in the upbringing
of children. They feel repressed and suffer from emotional strains.
The change in traditional (joint) family is dysfunctional first because it leads to the fragmentation of
landholdings, which affects the agricultural production and national income of the country. According
to an estimate, 55 to 60 per cent of our agriculturists possess less than five acres of land, 35 to 40 per
cent possess 5-25 acres, and only 5 to 10 per cent possess more than 25 acres. Therefore, 5 per cent of
our cultivators are well off, 9 per cent are fairly well, and 86 per cent are the worst sufferers. The
break in the joint family necessitates the division of property and the small pieces of land owned by
the cultivators come to be further divided, making it impossible for the owners to use scientific methods
in cultivation. This adversely affects the agricultural yield, the economic status of the family and the
economic progress of the society. Second, the disintegration of the residential jointness has negatively
affected us in the sense that joint family was an asylum for the old and the weak. Though in recent
years, the government has framed several schemes for providing social security to the old, the sick,
the disabled, and the unemployed etc., as already stated above, but only a small section of population
of our country is covered by these schemes. Because of this, many people depend on family for the
required protection. In fact, every member in a joint family is provided with a secure environment in
which he can fulfil not only his survival but his religious and recreational needs as well. Third, in the
emerging residential nuclear family, an individual is not able to develop the values of love, faith and
sacrifice as he was able to do in a joint family. Such training in integrative processes provided us the
required experience of life, developed our social maturity, and thus contributed much to our personality
development. It is because of these benefits that it is said that traditional (joint) family life in boyhood
is a school; in youth a safety-device; in old age a solace; and at all times a venerable institution.
Future of Traditional (Joint) Family

The traditional (joint) family in India is not going to die soon. Kapadia (1966: 331) also felt that the
general assumption that the joint family is dying out is invalid. It is strong not only in semi-industrial

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