Page 120 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH
P. 120

Unit 4: Family


          documentation of the variety of family systems in different parts of the world. Studies by scholars  Notes
          like M.S.A. Rao, M.S. Gore, and Milton Singer have shown that jointness is more preferred and
          prevalent in business communities, and many nuclear families maintain widespread kin ties. Several
          recent researches in the Industrialized West have also emphasized the supportive role of kin and
          their function of acting as a buffer between the family and the impersonal wider world (Abbi, 1970).
          Social historians too have shown that the nuclear family was prevalent as a cultural norm in Europe
          and the United States even before industrialization. However, it has to be noted that the supportive
          role of kin does not have the compulsory character which is found in the family obligations of the
          Indian nuclear family. The youngsters in the nuclear family still willingly follow the norm of
          responsibility towards the primary kin, such as parents and siblings, solidarity of the close kin, and
          some sense of unity of the family, even though living in separate households (Leela Dube, 1974: 311).
          All these changes have modified our family system. While the population movement from the rural
          to the urban areas has led to decline in authoritarian power, growth of secularism has developed a
          value system which emphasizes individual initiative and responsibility. Individual now functions
          without any restrictive familial controls. Formerly, when man worked in the family and all family
          members helped him in the work, there was more intimacy among the family members but now
          since he works in the industry away from the family, the intimacy in the relations has been adversely
          affected. The effect of industrialization on the pattern of family relationship is also evident from the
          decline in self-sufficiency of the family, and attitudinal changes toward family. Industrialization has,
          thus, contributed markedly to the creation of a new social and psychological setting in which the
          survival of the early joint family with its authoritarian familistic organization has become very difficult.
          Change in Marriage System

          Change in age for marriage, freedom in mate selection and change in attitude towards marriage have
          also affected our family system. Children who marry at a late age neither obey the parental authority
          nor perceive the eldest male as the main person in decision-making. The freedom in mate selection
          has promoted inter-caste marriages which in turn has affected the relationship structure in the family.
          Similarly, since marriage is no longer considered religiously important and break in marital relations
          has come to be legally accepted, it has weakened the corporate authority of the family as symbolized
          by the husband’s power.
          Legislative Measures

          Lastly, legislative measures have also their impact on family pattern. Prohibition of early marriage
          and fixing the minimum age of marriage by the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and the Hindu
          Marriage Act, 1955, have lengthened the period of education and functionally contributed to the
          adjustment of couples in new environment after marriage. The freedom of mate selection and marriage
          in any caste and religion without the parents’ consent after certain age permitted through by the
          Special Marriage Act, 1954, sanctioning of widow remarriage by the Widow Remarriage Act, 1856,
          the freedom of breaking the marriage by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and giving share to daughters
          in paternal property by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, have all not only modified the inter-personal
          relations and the composition of family but also the stability of joint family.
          Family Disorganization

          Family disorganization is a condition of a family characterized by the breakdown of harmonious
          relations and co-operation among the members, or breakdown of social control, or unity and discipline.
          A state of disorganization in the family also exists when there is role conflict among the set of members,
          say between husband and wife or parents and children or daughter-in-law and parents-in-law or
          brothers and brothers. When a family does not seem to be functioning in a ‘desirable’ way, that is,
          when the enacted roles of members are not in conformity to the expected roles (of society), a state of
          disorganization is judged to exist. The ‘personal disorganization’ of any one member in the family
          (that is, the condition in which he cannot function effectively because of inner confusion usually
          resulting from his acceptance of contradictory standards of behaviour or because of having accepted


                                           LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY                                       115
   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125