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Sociology of Kinship

Notes 11. Discipline and Control: A Karta has a special place in a joint family. All the works in a fam-
ily are directed by him. Therefore all members in the family remain under his control and
discipline is maintained in he family. ‘Karta’restricts the liberal activities of members of the
family through his power. So discipline and control on family is maintained by karta and
other elderly members of the family which is not found in a nuclear family.
12. National Integrity and Serving the Nation: A joint family has such a structure that it ena-
bles a person to learn the virtue of sacrifice, love, sympathy co-operation etc. on his own.
These qualities impel in them the national integrity. Some members in a joint family can
devote their life to the service of the nation. They can be freed of their family responsibili-
ties because of a large number of members in the family. They can contribute in the public
welfare activities, social service and serving the country to such an extent that they do not
hesitate in sacrificing their life during war.
13. Social Security: A joint family provides social security to its members. In India where child
marriage is prevalent in Hindus, a joint family look after the bride and groom till they be-
came self-relient. A joint family is also a best refuge to orphans, aged, widowes and aban-
doned who are provided social security. It is a moral responsibility of a joint family to look
after the members of the family in their hard times.

Joint family in itself is a community which fulfill all the physical, social and
cultural requirement of a person. A joint family is so important in a family that
if compared with it, all citizen units (specially a state) becomes valueless.
According to karvey, “all the illegal earning of a person is spent on a big joint
family or a big group of relative, and it does not matter if the money is obtained
in a wrong way from a person or the government.

23.5 Problem (Demerits) of Joint Family
The system of joint family is disintegrating day-by-day in spite of having so many merits be-
cause it also has some demerits:
1. Increase in the Number of Persons Who are Good for Nothing /Indolent: Every member is
treated equally in a joint family whether they are earning or not. They are looked after and
their all requirements are fulfilled. In this scenario an indolent does not want to work or
he never get encouraged and excited to do something. On the other hand, a hard working
person never gets encourager for his works so he starts losing his interest in the work. So
his efficiency declines. Therefore in a joint family the number of indolent and dependent
persons increase rather than solving the problem of unemployment and destitutes.
2. Hinderance in the Personality Development: A joint family has been proved to be an ob-
stacle in the personality development because all are treated in the same way whether he
is a fool or a genius, a hard working or an indolent. A genius cannot keep his point of view
because of the strict control and discipline of the elder members in the family and so he
cannot properly use his abilities. His all hopes and ambitions are (rushed for the interest of
family).
3. Bad Condition/Sorry Pignut of Women: There is a strong question of women in a joint fam-
ily. For the first time, when a newly wed bride enters her husband’s house, she is treated
like a godess (Godess Laxmi). Mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and other women show their
affection and pray for her well being and sing song to welcome her. But all these activities
are an ostentation. In reality her position in the family is not more than a maid-servant. She

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