Page 98 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 4: Family

Notes
Ego+Wi
Ego, his wife and/or unmarried
Sub-type III son(s) without children
So+Wi So Da

Ego, his wife, unmarried
Sub-type IV children and his unmarried
Ego+Wi Br brothers

So Da

Ego, his wife, unmarried
Sub-type V children and his widowed aunt
Ego+Wi Si or sister or niece.
(Widow)

So Da

The third sub-type of marginal joint family in Desai’s classification (that is, a man, his wife, unmarried
children, and his married sons without issues) is considered as nuclear family by Kapadia (1959:
74). He maintains that the family is nuclear if it is composed of a person, his wife and their children,
married or unmarried, that is, it is a group of parents and their children, married or unmarried,
provided the married children have no children of their own. In the latter case (that is, when the
children have the children of their own), it will turn itself into a joint family. Kapadia gives five
types of families: (1) nuclear family with unmarried sons; (2) nuclear family with married sons; (3)
lineal joint family; (4) colateral joint family; and (5) family with widowed sister and/or her children,
that is, with a dependent.
The second type of nuclear family in Kapadia’s above classification (which is described as marginal
joint family by Desai) is considered a small joint family by Aileen Ross. Ross (1961: 34) has given four
types of families: (1) large joint family, that is, family composed of three or more generations living
together in the same house, cooking in the same kitchen, owning property in common, and pooling
their incomes for common spending; (2) small joint family, that is, family consisting of parents,
married sons and unmarried children, or two brothers living together with their wives and children;
(3) nuclear family, that is, family with one or both parents and their unmarried children; and (4)
nuclear family with dependents, that is, parents, their unmarried children and one or more
dependents.
The small joint family has been classified by Ross in three sub-types as under:
(i) A man, his wife, unmarried children and married son (s) without children.

Diagram 4 (i)

Ego+Wi

So+Wi So Da

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 93