Page 191 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 25: Future of Family: Emerging Alternatives-Nuclear Family, Marxist and Feminist Approaches

related very important functions”. He further clarifies this view and says: “Nuclear Fam- Notes
ily is a type of the universal human-group. In form of the only popular type of family, in
form of fundamental unit of the intricated family forms are present in every human society
as a specific and strong functional group”. The views of Mardock are criticised from differ-
ent angles. First of all some people has clarified that many things in the blue print of fam-
ily presented by Mardock is like “multidimensional, unavoidable, boy scout knife”. Since it
is multifunctional, it is considered as unavoidable and therefore universal. It is believed that
in excess of enthusiasm Mardock has not recognised the alternative ways of execution of
some functions.
Morgan clarifies through his criticism that Mardock is unable to answer that “To a certain extent
this foundational function is joined with the institution of nuclear family in unavoidable form”.
The conclusion of Mardock has forced in the way on the unavoidability and universality of the
nuclear family, the decisive evidence lacks in its favour. It may possible that he had reached to
such conclusion due to collection of data in Euro-American society. It is explained that the type
of families which are popular in anxiety tribes of Nayars in India and in Central Ghana puts a
question mark on the truthness of this statement.
In the big anxiety villages of Central Ghana, children carry the basket of food from their moth-
er’s house to their father’s house. They eat food with their father. After that they return to their
mother’s place for sleeping. Mother can go to meet her husband at night. Divided home and
this system of going and coming is present due to the traditional social arrangement of anxiety
people such as important social provisions, like succession of role, succession of reputation-post
or political status etc. is based on the maternal stream. Women often pay more or equal impor-
tance to the relation with brother in comparison to the relation with husband because their child
gets succession from their brother. Since the position of children is determined by their mother
or the maternal relatives, the break of marriage relation is not more important for husband-wife
or children.
One other factor which induces women to live in their house after marriage is affection between
mother and children and mainly between mother and daughters. It is inferred that in drencher
of nuclear family there may be the interference of interests and relations. It is difficult to explain
that nuclear family in anxiety people is common or essential co-unit. Their hypothesis of family
is totally different from the people of Europe or America or Asia.
The most ultimate and best example of maternal descent on family relations is seen in the Nayar
caste of South India in the era before the effect of British Rule. It seems that the marriage relation
in Nayars is limited to a symbolic level only. This takes the form of contract at the time when a
girl gets puberty and after sometime of it, it is broken in a ceremonial way. After this the women
have liberty to make informal love relation from the men who reach their home at night. In Na-
yar families, there was a group of brothers and sisters and children of their sisters. If any woman
of the family was born a child then he was become a member of the maternal family. Children
are precluded from making strong relations from their father or procreator or any of them. Al-
though, it is impossible to argue that in this type of social arrangement, there was entirely no
role of father. But in the favour of the drencher of maternal group, the claimant of property, this
role is clearly gets much minimised. It appears that in reference to the development of socialisa-
tion and personality, the functions executed by the father is performed by the male members of
maternal family.
These illustrations have induced some writers including Radcliff-Brown on the conclusion that
the fundamental structural unit of kinship arrangement is the unit of mother and children. On
this basis, the nuclear family can be divided into many coupled and paired groups and it can
be investigated in several societies that they can establish rhythm with one another and other
groups or due to this, there is a probability of getting fainted of included classes in the totality
of nuclear family and the search of independent contact source becomes possible. The societies
in which the paternal dominance is perceptible clearly in that also the unit formed of mother

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