Page 123 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes 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.
• Children today not only discuss their problems with their parents but they even oppose them
when their wishes and ideologies clash with the formalized restraint of their parents. Whatever
change has taken place in the relations between parents and children, it has some sociological
implications. One, the process of socialization of children has been affected. Two, competence
and ability of individual now determines individual’s career more than the family interest.
Three, because of the freedom enjoyed, children today get more incentive for work and
opportunity for achieving their aspirations. Under former historical circumstances, husband’s
economic and social roles almost automatically gave him pre-eminence. Under modern
conditions, the roles of men and women, particularly in urban areas, have changed so much
that husbands and wives are potential equals.
• In the traditional family, relation with mother is more primal than with wife. Comparing the
closeness in relations between a man, his wife and his mother in the rural and urban areas.
• Milton Singer (1968: 434) regards four factors responsible for change in family: residential
mobility, occupational mobility, scientific and technical education, and monetization. This author
has also identified five factors which have affected the family most. These are: education,
urbanization, industrialization, change in the institution of marriage, specially in the age of
marriage, and the legislative measures.
• Urbanization is another factor that has affected the family. Urban population has grown at a
faster rate in our country in the last few decades. In the mid-eighteenth century, approximately
10.0 per cent of the population in India were town-dwellers.
• The urban families differ from the rural families not only in composition but in ideology too.
• 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.
4.7 Key-Words

1. Conjugal : Relating to marriage or the relationship of spouses.
2. Nuclear family : It is a term used to define a family group consisting of a pair of adults and
their children.
4.8 Review Questions

1. What do you mean by concept of family?
2. Discuss the forms of family.
3. What are the causes for the decline of joint family?
4. Write a short note an the Family System?
Answers: Self-Assessment

1. (i) two (ii) companionship (iii) tertiary
(iv) 1929 (v) consanguine
4.9 Further Readings

1. Ahuja, Ram, 1994: Indian Social System, Rawat Publication.
2. Srinivas, M.N., 1963: Social Change in Modern India, University of California
Press.
3. Sharma, K.L., 2007: Indian Social Structure and Change, Rawat Publication.

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