Page 95 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes vertical or horizontal. In the joint family, the lineally related nuclear families live together and function
under one common authority. Thus, a joint family is “a single homestead occupied by two or more
lineally related males, their spouses and offspring subject to the same authority”.
A joint family may be of several types: (i) a man and his wife, their unmarried sons and daughters,
and their married sons with (unmarried) children; (ii) a man, his wife and unmarried children, and
his parents; (iii) a man, his wife, his parents, his unmarried children and married sons with children;
(iv) several brothers each with his wife and children; and (v) several brothers each with his wife and
children and the parents.
Diagram 2

Lineal joint family Colateral joint family
Ego+Wi Ego+Wi

So+Wi So Da So+Wi So+Wi So [Da+Hu]

Grand- Grand- Grand- Grand- So Da
So+Wi Da So+Wi So+Wi

(Note: Enclosure in the box bracket indicates residence elsewhere.)
On this basis, it may be said that the joint family may be either lineal (where the extension is vertical)
or colateral (where the extension is horizontal).
On the basis of holding of authority, the families are classified as husband-dominant, wife-dominant,
and equalitarian families. That equalitarian family where husband and wife make most of the decisions
jointly is called syncratic family and the one in which equal number of separate decisions are assigned
to both partners is called autonomic family.
Burgess and Locke (1963: 26) have classified families as institutional and companionship on the basis of
the behaviour of the individuals. In the institutional family, the behaviour of the members is controlled
by mores and public opinion, while in the companionship family, behaviour arises from the mutual
affection and consensus of its members. Burgess holds that American family has changed from
institutional type to companionship type.
On the basis of the kinship ties, the families have been classified as conjugal and consanguine. In the
former, the priority is given to marital ties and in the latter to blood ties. The American independent
nuclear family system is described as a conjugal one, while in contrast, the Indian family system
emphasizes on filial, fraternal and sibling relations over marital relations. In a conjugal system, a
man may leave his parents and “cleave into his wife”, but in a consanguine system, the wife is an
outsider whose wishes and needs must be subordinated to the continuity and welfare of the joint/
extended kin group. The conjugal families are transitory in character and disintegrate with the death
of the parents. The consanguine families, on the other hand, continue for a very long time because the
existence of the family does not depend upon any couple. Even if the father or mother die prematurely,
there are other kin present to absorb the several facets of the parental role. After the death of
grandparents, control of the family passes on to the next generation.
Zimmerman (1947: 120) has classified families as trustee, domestic and atomistic. However, he has
stated that these are ideal family types rather than empirical family types. The trustee family has the
right and power to make the family members conform to its wishes as this family has no concept of
individual rights. The authority of the family head is not absolute but it is delegated to him in his role
as trustee for carrying out family responsibilities. The domestic family is an intermediate type between
trustee and atomistic families, having characteristics of both the families. It maintains a balance between
formalism and individualism. The atomistic family is one in which the conventional mores lose their

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