9

Marriage and Family

1. INTRODUCTION

Marriages are usually arranged within social units according to customs and traditions and at all times in history societies have formulated rules for them. In every society, it is found that men and women are aware of the rights and duties of the husband and wife much before they enter into any relations, and these rights and duties form a part and parcel of the whole marriage complex in any society. Marriage involves social sanction, generally in the form of civil or religious ceremony, authorizing the persons of opposite sex to engage in sexual union and other consequent or correlated socio-economic relations with each other. It is an institution that admits men and women to family life. It is a stable relationship in which a man and a woman are socially permitted to have children, implying thereby the right to sexual relations.

All living things, including the human beings, satisfy their instincts and desires for their survival and continuity. The most important desires among these are hunger and sexual instinct in the natural environment. Human beings fulfil them according to the established norms of their society. The sex instinct among the humans is regulated through an institutionalized pattern called marriage.

1.1. Functions of Marriage

• Marriage is an institution which initiates a man and a woman to establish family life and play the role of husband and wife.

Figure 9.1 Functions of Marriage

• It provides essential arrangements for permanent human meeting and enduring relationships between a male and a female.
• Husband and wife are socially permitted to have children. The right to have children implies the right to sexual relations.
• Marriage provides appropriate controls, order, and stability to relationships by regulating sexual relationships.
• Marriage and family are responsible for the survival of society by procreating and providing (offspring).

1.2. Rules of Marriage

• Marriage in general is a social, legal, or religious contract between one or more male and one or more female for the purpose of procreation, sex enjoyment, and satisfaction of psycho-physical needs.
• In some communities, people have to avoid seven degrees from the father’s side and five degrees from the mother’s side. Each society has got its own prohibited degree of relations.
• The incest taboo prohibits marriage between certain close relatives. Universal incest consists of sexual relations between parent and child, between father-in-law and daughter-in-law, and between mother-in-law and son-in-law.

• Virginity is usually considered as an absolute prerequisite for marriage, among the orthodox and conservative people, throughout the world.
• Modern societies have legislative measures to avoid child marriage, and ensure that the partners are mature enough to enter into matrimony for which a minimum age is prescribed.

2. FORMS OF MARRIAGE

• Monogamy: When a male marries a single female, the marriage is called of monogamous type. Monogamy appears to be the most popular form of marriage in all societies.
• Polygamy: Polygamy is a type of marriage that permits a man to marry two or more wives at a time. The principle followed in polygamy is ‘one husband several wives’. Plurality of wives is more frequent and more generally practiced among the pastorals and agriculturalists.
• Polyandry: Polyandry is similar to polygamy. In this kind of marriage, a woman is permitted to have two or more husbands at a time. It is found among the Todas of the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, in the inhabitants of the Jaunsar region in the Siwalik Hills of Uttarakhand, the Tibetans, and the people of Sikkim.

Figure 9.2 Forms of Marriage

• Endogamy: Endogamy means marriage within one’s own group. The best example of this is caste endogamy. The basic rule followed in caste is to marry within the caste group, that too within the sub-groups.
• Exogamy: Exogamy means to marry outside the group. It is the process by means of which group ties are expanded. People also believe that marrying in their near kin is not a healthy practice. Exogamy is advantageous from the biological point of view. This is beneficial in the reproduction of healthy and intelligent offspring.
• Group marriage: Group marriage implies two or more women married to the same two or more men, but this arrangement is rare. This type of marriage is found only in polyandrous societies. Group marriage is not a marriage at all, but a kind of sexual communism.

3. ENDOGAMY

According to Joseph K. Folsom, endogamy is the rule that one must marry within one’s own caste or other group.

3.1. Forms of Endogamy

• Race: In race endogamy, marriage outside the race is prohibited. For example, people of the Veddah race practice endogamy.
• Divisional or tribal: In divisional or tribal endogamy, marriage is contracted within the tribe or division.
• Caste: In caste endogamy, no individual can marry outside his own caste.
• Sub-caste: In sub-caste endogamy, marriage can take place only between the members of a particular sub-caste.
• Class: In class endogamy, choice for marriage is restricted to people of only one class or of a particular status.

Figure 9.3 Forms of Endogamy

3.2. Causes of Endogamy

• Policy of separation: An endogamous group often has the will to live in separation from others.
• To keep the group strong: When any woman of a group marries into another, her children belong to the other group. This leads to the numerical weakening of the first group.

Figure 9.4 Causes of Endogamy

• Religious difference: Generally, marriage between people of dissimilar religions is not considered good.
• Sense of superiority or inferiority: At the root of caste endogamy and racial endogamy is the sense of superiority or inferiority.
• Long distance: Those who live at long distances naturally prefer not to marry one another.
• Racial and cultural differences: Racial and cultural differences act as a barrier for marrying outside.

3.3. Advantages of Endogamy

Endogamy leads to a sense of unity within the group. It helps maintain the purity of a group. People from outside the group do not gain authority over the group’s wealth. The group manages to keep its business secrets intact. Marrying within their own group makes women happy.

3.4. Disadvantages of Endogamy

The scope for choice of a life partner is limited in an endogamous marriage. This leads to malpractices such as unsuitable marriages, polygamy, dowry system, bride price, and so on. Endogamy breeds hatred and jealousy for groups other than one’s own. It is marrying within one’s own caste that has been responsible for the rigid casteism in India. Endogamy therefore gives a blow to national unity.

4. EXOGAMY

Exogamy means to marry outside the group. It is the process by means of which group ties are expanded. People also believe that to marry in their near kin is not a healthy practice.

According to Sumner and Keller, endogamy is conservative while exogamy is progressive; exogamy is approved from the biological viewpoint.

4.1. Forms of Exogamy

• Gotra exogamy: It is a practice among the Brahmins to marry outside the gotra. If a man marries within the gotra, he has to repent and treat the woman like a sister or a mother.

Figure 9.5 Forms of Exogamy

• Gotra exogamy among the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas: Among the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, it is the gotra of the purohit which is taken into account. In their case, the ancestry is carried on not through the saint but through some follower of the saint.
• Pravar exogamy: Let us understand the concept of pravar. People who utter the name of a common saint at religious functions are believed to belong to the same pravar. It is a kind of religious and spiritual relation. The Brahmins forbid marriage between persons belonging to the same pravar. This is in addition to the gotra restrictions mentioned earlier.
• Pinda exogamy: In the Hindu society; marriage within the pinda is prohibited. Pinda means common parentage. According to Brahaspati, offspring from five maternal generations and seven paternal generations are sapinda and they cannot inter-marry.
• Totem exogamy: In most tribes of India, it is customary to marry outside the totem. Totem is the name given to any specific vegetation or animals which a tribe believes it has some specific relation with.
• Village exogamy: Among many Indian tribes, people marry outside their village. The Mundas and other tribes of Chhota Nagpur of central India practice village exogamy.

4.2. Causes of Exogamy

According to Westermarck, the most important cause of exogamy is the absence of the erotic feeling or the presence of sexual indifference between near related persons. Incest taboos exist because they are essential to maintaining the family structure. In their absence, the different statuses and relationships in the family would become confused and thereby the organizational and functional efficiency of the family would be lost. In India, till recently, sagotra marriages were held invalid. They were declared legal as late as in 1948. It seems that in ancient times people living in one household were not permitted to inter-marry; but when the household broke up, the prohibited range of marriage also contracted.

5. POLYGAMY

5.1. Causes of Polygamy

• Enforced celibacy: In the uncivilized tribes, men did not approach the women in their period of pregnancy and while the child was being breastfed. Thus, due to this long period of enforced celibacy, the need for another marriage was felt.
• Earlier aging of the female: In the uncivilized tribes, men remarried a number of times because the women aged earlier.
• Variety: Upon being questioned as to why polygamy should be practiced, a Muslim from Morocco replied that a person cannot live forever on a diet of fish. The above incident may be apocryphal but the point it drives home is important. The desire for variety is a cause of polygamy.
• More children: A son has much utility in an uncivilized society. In agriculture, war, and conflicts, and so on, numerical superiority is an important factor. Second, in these tribes the birth rate is low while the rate of infant mortality is high.
• Social prestige: The leaders of uncivilized tribes in Congo exaggerate the number of their wives in order to prove their superiority. A single marriage is considered a sign of poverty. In this way, where the number of spouses is flaunted as a sign of prestige and prosperity, the custom of polygamy is natural.
• Economic necessity: In The History of Human Marriage, Westermarck writes that when a Zulu is asked why he has married a second time, he is apt to reply that who would cook when his only wife, if she were the only one, fell ill? In this way, one cause of polygamy is economic necessity. In the Himalayan tribes of India, men marry many times in order to increase their property and in order to obtain help in their agricultural activities. Thus, they get a cheap and reliable labourer in the form of a wife.

Figure 9.6 Causes of Polygamy

5.2. Forms of Polygamy

• Polygamy: In this form, one man marries several women. The causes mentioned earlier pertain to this form of polygamy.
• Bigamy: In this form, one man marries two women.
• Polyandry: In this form, one woman marries several men and lives as their wife.
• Group marriages: In this form, several young men and women gather at some special occasion and marry collectively.

Figure 9.7 Forms of Polygamy

5.3. Advantages of Polygamy

• Superfluous and powerful offspring: The practice gives a greater number of strong children because powerful men can beget children from more than one woman.
• Less corruption: Cases of sexual infidelity are few because the husband finds the desired variety in his numerous wives.

5.4. Disadvantages of Polygamy

Disadvantages of polygamy outnumber its advantages. For this reason, it is not considered good in any of the civilized societies.

The disadvantages are as follows:

• The status of women suffers.
• Jealousy, hatred, and so on, increase among the women and the full development of their respective personalities is hindered.
• The financial burden is much increased and the children cannot be brought up well.

6. POLYANDRY

Polyandry is the marriage of one woman with several men. It is much less common than polygamy. The practice of polyandry is to be seen in many parts of the world. In India, the tribes such as Tyan, Toda, Khasi, and Bota of Ladakh are polyandrous. The Nairs of Kerala were polyandrous previously.

6.1. Types of Polyandry

6.1.1. Fraternal Polyandry

In this type, one woman is regarded as the wife of all brothers and all of them have sexual relations with her. The resulting children are treated as the offspring of the eldest. This practice is found in Punjab, Malabar, Nilgiri, Ladakh, Sikkim, and Assam. It also exists in Tibet.

6.1.2. Non-fraternal Polyandry

In this type, one woman has many husbands with whom she cohabits in turn. It is not necessary that these husbands be brothers. If a child is born, then any husband is elected as its social parent by a special ritual. This practice once prevailed among the Nairs of Malabar but is now almost completely defunct.

6.2. Causes of Polyandry

Although polyandry depends to a large extent upon local conditions, yet its causes can, to extent, be generalized. The following are these causes:

• Shortage of women as compared with the number of men.
• Extreme poverty due to which one man alone cannot support one wife.
• Desire to limit the population.
• Disutility in society from the economic viewpoint.
• Desire to maintain the strength of the joint family.
• Being situated far away from the centres of culture and progress.
• Bride price being high on account of the lesser number of women.

7. POLYGYNY

Polygyny is a form of marriage in which one man marries more than one woman at a given time. It is more popular than polyandry. It is not as universal as monogamy. It is practiced among the Nagas, Gonds, and Baigas in India. It is permitted among the Muslims and various tribal communities of the world.

7.1. Causes of Polygyny

• Enforced celibacy: Men did not approach the women during the period of pregnancy and while the child was being breastfed. Due to this long period of enforced celibacy, a second marriage was considered.
• Earlier aging of the female: In the uncivilized tribes, men remarried a number of times because the women aged earlier.
• Variety: The desire for variety is also the cause of polygyny.
• More children: Polygyny is also a practice to obtain more children.
• Social prestige: In some tribes, the leaders have more wives in order to prove their superiority. A single marriage is considered a sign of poverty.

7.2. Advantages of Polygyny

Polygyny checks prostitution because men can satisfy their sexual desire in a better way by keeping themselves within the confines of marriage. It gives healthy children to society because only the rich can afford to maintain several wives. Children are better looked after because there are several women to look after them.

7.3. Disadvantages of Polygyny

Polygyny increases the economic burden on the head of the family because he has to support many women and children. The children cannot be looked after properly because too many of them are there to be looked after. Polygyny can create jealousy among the wives and their children. It can destroy family happiness. The women are given a lower position.

7.4. Types of Polygyny

• Sororal polygyny: It is a type of marriage in which the wives are invariably the sisters. It is often called a sororate. The Latin word soror stands for sister.
• Non-sororal polygyny: It is a type of marriage in which the wives are not related as sisters.

For social, economic, political, and other reasons, both types are practiced by some people.

8. MONOGAMY

Monogamy is a form of marriage in which one man marries one woman. This is the most popular form of marriage found among the primitive as well as the civilized societies.

8.1. Advantages of Monogamy

• Universally practicable: In almost all the societies, only monogamy can provide marital opportunity and satisfaction to all the individuals.
• Economically better suited: No man of ordinary income can think of practicing polygyny. But monogamy can adjust itself with poverty.

Figure 9.8 Advantages of Monogamy

• Promotes better understanding between husband and wife: Monogamy produces the highest type of love and affection between husband and wife. It contributes to family peace solidarity and happiness.
• Contributes to suitable family and sex life: A monogamous family is more stable and long-lasting. It is free from conflicts that are commonly found in polyandrous and polygynous families. There is no scope for sexual jealousy either.
• Helps in better socialization: Since husband and wife have better understanding, the can give greater attention to the socialization of their children.
• Aged parents are not neglected: It is only in monogamy that old parents are protected and looked after properly.
• Provides better status to women: In monogamy, women enjoy better social status. In the modern families, they enjoy almost equal social status with men.

8.2. Reasons for Monogamy

The sex ratio in most societies is almost equal and hence monogamy is the natural form. Everywhere, there is a set of rules governing division of labour among the sexes, so for practice and economic reasons monogamy is often the best form. Strong feelings of affection and loyalty often develop between one man and one woman, even if they are not present at the beginning. Monogamy probably offers the best environment for the rearing of children. Maybe as a result of the influence of Christian and Jewish teaching, monogamy has been widely accepted. The economic conditions of many societies forced people to be monogamous.

9. INTER-CASTE MARRIAGE

When a man from a particular caste marries a woman from another caste, we call it inter-caste marriage. Sociologists believe that inter-caste marriages were not alien to people living ii very ancient India. However, with the Varna system transforming into a rigid caste system, strict laws of endogamy came into force. This led to difficulties in finding a bridegroom and made him a scarce commodity. As a result, such malpractices as dowry, unsuitable marriages, and bride price came into being. Encouraging inter-caste marriages will certainly put an end to such malpractices.

10. MARRIAGE LEGISLATION AND FAMILY PROBLEMS IN INDIA

In India, according to the traditional Hindu Law, marriage is a sacrament and not a civil contract. It is a samskara or purificatory ceremony obligatory for every Hindu. The Hindu religious books have enjoined marriage as a duty because an unmarried man cannot perform some of the most important religious rites. Accordingly, marriage in India is a holy performance of religious duties. Among Hindus, marriage is considered compulsory. It is an indestructible and sacred union. Second marriages, especially for women, are not often condoned.

10.1. Hindu Marriage Act 1955

The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 has now regulated marriage among the Hindus. Section 5 of the Act lays down that a marriage may be solemnized between any two Hindus, if the following conditions are fulfilled:

• Neither party has a spouse living at the time of marriage.
• Neither party is an idiot or a lunatic at the time of marriage.
• The bridegroom has completed the age of 18 years and the bride the age of 15 years at the time of marriage, which has now been raised to 21 and 18 years, respectively.
• The parties are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits a marriage between the two.
• The parties are not sapindas of each other, unless the custom or usage governing each of them permits of a marriage between the two.
• Where the bride has not completed the age of 18 years, the consent of her guardians in marriage, if any, has been obtained for the marriage.

10.2. Divorce in India

The Hindu scriptures regarded marriage as a bond indissoluble in life. The wife was to worship her husband as a god. To Hindu law, there was no such thing as divorce. The custom of divorce existed only among the lower castes. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 has recognized the right of the Hindu woman to divorce her husband. Under Section 13 of the Act, any marriage solemnized, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, may, on a petition presented by either the husband or the wife, be dissolved by a decree of divorce on the ground that the other party

• is living in adultery.
• has ceased to be a Hindu by conversion to another religion.
• has been incurably of unsound mind for a continuous period of not less than three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.
• has for a period of not less than three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, been suffering from a virulent and incurable form of leprosy.
• has for a period of not less than three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, been suffering from a disease in communicable form.
• has renounced the world by entering any religious order.
• has not been heard of as being alive for a period of seven years by those persons who would naturally have heard of it, had that party been alive.
• has not resumed cohabitation for a space of two years or upwards after the passing of a course for judicial separation against that party.
• has failed to comply with a degree for restitution of conjugal rights for a period of two years or upwards after the passing of the degree.

The social legislations in India, before and after Independence, have been presented in Table 9.1.

 

TABLE 9.1 Social Legislations Before and After Independence

Act/Law	Details
The Hindu Widow Re-marriage Act of 1856	The Hindu institution of marriage was established on the ethical foundations provided by religion. Therefore, the wife was not permitted to contract the second marriage after the death of her husband. The suffering of the Hindu widows attracted the attention of several social reformers like Iswarachandra Vidyasagar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy. As a result of the efforts of these social reformers in 1856, the Hindu Widow Re-marriage Act was passed and from that day widow re-marriage received legal validity
The Special Marriage Act of 1872	In order to abolish the endogamous restrictions on the selection of mates for marriage, the British Government enacted the Special Marriage Act in 1872. This Act permitted a man to contract legal marriage with a woman not belonging to his own endogamous group
The Child Marriage Restraint Act	In order to put an end to the practice of child marriage, the British Government and the Indian social reformers made hard efforts. As a result, Harvilas Sharda presented a bill in this direction in 1929 and the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed. This Act is also called the Sharda Act of 1929. According to it, the minimum age of boys and girls for marriage was fixed at 18 years and 15 years, respectively
The Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937	The Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937 recognized a widow of a deceased person as his surviving personality with the same right as his in the joint family property
After independence
The Special Marriage Act of 1954	The Special Marriage Act was passed by the Government of India in 1954. This Act is also known as the Civil Marriage Act. In fact, this Act is an amended form of the Special Marriage Act of 1872. It fixed the minimum age of marriage at 21 years and 18 years for boys and girls, respectively
The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955	The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 applies to all the members of Hindu society. According to this Act, the word Hindu includes a Jain, Buddhist, or Sikh by religion and any person who is not a Christian, Muslim, Parsi, or Jew. This Act has recognized the equal right of a woman and a man to divorce. Section 13 of this Act has laid down the grounds for divorce
The Hindu Succession Act of 1956	The legislation which has affected very much our property and family relations is the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. This Act was passed to recognize equal rights for women in the matter of inheritance of property. Before the enactment of this Act, under the provision of Hindu law, a woman had no right to inherit property. According to this Act, the property of a man after his death is divided equally among his widow, sons, and unmarried daughters
The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961	The main object of this Act is to abolish giving and taking dowry at the time of marriage. The provision of this Act was enforced on 1 July 1961. The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 extends to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and Kashmir. According to this Act, giving and taking dowry before, during, and after marriage is a crime. This Act prescribes punishment for the persons who are giving and accepting dowry. The punishment is an imprisonment for six months or a fine of 5000. In special circumstances, both types of punishment can be imposed

10.3. Marriage and Family Problems in India

10.3.1. Present Lower Status of Women

In considering the marriage and family problems in India, we have to first consider the status of women in the Hindu family. Critics of the Indian family system say that Indian women do not enjoy equal rights with men in the social, political, religious, and economic fields; that they are ill-treated; and that they cannot claim any share in the family property. Before marriage, a woman depends on her father; after marriage, on her husband; and in old age, on her sons.

10.3.2. Reform Movements

Women began to take part in the freedom movement from the 1920s. The part they played amazed the world. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, and the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act of 1987 are fresh efforts to remove most of the disabilities from which Indian women are suffering. The Department of Women and Child Development in the Government of India has been given the main responsibility of coordinating and executing the welfare programme for women in India. A national commission of self-employed women has also been appointed. However, there is much to be done, especially for the womenfolk of the villages, where old prejudices and customs still hold deep roots in family life.

10.3.3. Dowry System

Another problem that is to be considered regarding marriage problems in India is the commercial aspect of the marriage. By this I mean the dowry system. It needs no mention what evils the system is fraught with. The father of the girl commits suicide because he has not been able to manage for the dowry demanded by the parents of the boy. Sometimes, the girl herself commits suicide on that account. The parents often commit theft, forgery, or misappropriation to manage dowry money.

11. MARRIAGE–HEALTH CONNECTION

There is always an association between health and marriage; the fact is that all married are considered to be healthy and unmarried are considered to be unhealthy. However, it is only the selection of a healthy life partner that leads to a healthy life. There are various attributes that are desirable for the marriage partners, such as good physical statues, attractiveness, earning potentiality, mental well-being, degree of self-sufficiency, and longevity. Social scientists, that is, the sociologist who do in-depth research in these areas, describe that married people has the tendency of selecting healthy people to do marriage, as healthy selection decide their health. Health as such has multidimensional concepts with large collection of measures that include behavioural, physical, social, spiritual, and emotional outcomes. We have selected health outcomes from five broad topic areas and focused our review on those outcomes, which are likely to be of interest to the health policy community. In particular, we focus our synthesis on the following outcomes:

• Health behaviour: There are certain healthy behaviours observed after marriage, such as performing regular exercise, eating balanced diet, avoiding risky behaviours, such as smoking, drinking, and so on, in the initial period of marriage life. Many families evidence alcoholism and smoking prevalence as an effect of poor married life.
• Health-care access and use: Marriage is the holding between two families where two new persons are bonded to start a new life. There are certain factors that will affect the health of the couples, therefore there is a need to access health care and understand people’s usage of its facilities, for example, health insurance and its status; pre-conceptional counselling sessions, cancer screening for couples; total health cost, and so on. Health-care services are opted for couples to strengthen their health-care needs and improve quality care.
• Mental health: Marriage can affect the mental health. As two new people get bonded, there are lots of expectations and predictions about each life. Literature proves that most of couple quickly drop their life and go into depression, which debilitates physical health. Counselling cells should be established to solve the conflicts among the couples and mental assessment should be done to solve the problems at the earliest in each community.

Figure 9.9 Marriage –Health Connection

• Physical health and longevity: Health is an important concern for everyone. After marriage every person has concern on health and longevity, there are illnesses that arise due to family problems that predispose many risk factors of cardiovascular illness. There are many studies done on marriage, health status, and longevity, though there are other causes for the illness, certain illness can be specified due to family conflicts. To earn longevity there is always need to preserve the health. Marriage life should be directed in such a way that longevity is prolonged where risk factors for the illness should be analysed and assessed to prevent incidence of illness. Approaching health centre which has counselling cell for the couples to treat the illness at the earliest prolongs longevity.
• Intergenerational health effects: Couples’ marital status affects the children’s health status. Also, long-term consequences are experienced by the child once they reach the later adulthood. Many studies represent that couples health status is important to strengthen their child’s health status and longevity. Many factors intervene marriage life while bringing up the children. Many couples may not be able to afford the health care for the illness of their children that again affects the longevity of their children.

12. EFFECTS OF MARITAL STATUS ON HEALTH

Analysis of health status of couples before and after marriage shows that before marriage health status is affected more and improved after marriage, for example, in case of divorced, older marriage, or never-married men, health status is affected and deteriorated early. Remarriage improves their health level because the health benefits are more after a good married life since person is cared in times of illness, improved nutrition is available, homely atmosphere is without stress, healthy behaviour is encouraged, unhealthy behaviour is discouraged. Good married life encourages healthy life and longevity.

13. FAMILY

Man’s social life begins with family. It is the most important primary group. It is the oldest social institution known to man. Family is the mother of social institutions. It is the first social environment to which a child is exposed. It is a place where most of the people spend more than a half of their lifetime.

Family is the centre of our life activities. It gives shape to our personality and provides us inspiration. It is the centre of the social system. All other systems have a close bearing with the family. Family contributes to their strength. Any major change in the family will have repercussions throughout the social system.

Family has regulated sexual relations and avoided promiscuity by prescribing customary sex morals. It is a permanent organization which has provided stable family life. It is the shelter where man is fed, clothed, and housed from the beginning. It has upheld and inculcated the traditions and customs of the group. Thus, family is the foundation stone on which cultural heritage is built. Family as a unit of sociological inquiry is dealt with in various ways by sociologists. It is studied as an institution, as an association, and as an organization. It is also referred to as a sub-system because it is regarded as one of the parts of the society.

The study of the Indian family system deserves special attention, not only because we are born in Indian families, but also because the family system in India differs in material respects from its western counterpart. The family in India consists not only of husband, wife, and their children but also of uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandsons. This system called joint family or extended family system is a peculiar characteristic of the Indian social life. The family in India is based on patrilineal descent. Children are identified by name and allegiance with the father’s family.

13.1. Meaning of Family

The origin of the English word family is traced to the Roman word famulus or to the Latin word familia, meaning a household comprising servants or workers and slaves, along with other individuals having marriage or blood relations. Thus, originally, family consisted of a man and a woman with a child or children and servants. This meaning of family has changed over the years.

The functions of family are described in Table 9.2.

 

TABLE 9.2 Functions of Family

Function	Description
Social unit	Family is a basic kinship unit. In its minimal form, it consists of a wife, a husband, and children. In its widest sense, it refers to all relatives living together or recognized as a social unit and includes adopted persons
Emotional basis	The love, affection, sense of belonging, and intimate relationship and concern show the emotional basis of the family. Between the family members, love and affection is established. This works as a fuel to run the family
Formative influence	Family moulds the character and personality of the individuals by impressing upon them the organic and mental habits
Basic needs	Family is responsible for providing minimum basic needs, including those of food, clothing, and shelter to its members
Limited size	Family is a small group. The smallness of the group affords greater relationship. It is the smallest of the organizations that make up the social structure
Sexual needs	Family came into being to satisfy the sexual needs and instincts of the couples. Sex is necessary for the human beings. Thus, family is a biological unit allowing institutionalized sex relationship between wife and husband
Cultural transmission	Family respects religious traditions, mores, customs, values and beliefs, and society worships the respected social customs, and so on
Nucleus of the social structure	Family is the basic unit of social organization. It is also the centre of all social organizations and possesses a close relation with them. Besides, it is an agent of both social control and socialization
Permanent and temporary in nature	Family as an association is temporary and transitional. People composing of family perish in due course of time. Family as an institution is a stable procedure of performing certain activities which are permanent
A system of name	Each family is recognized by some name. The system of naming differs from group to group. The naming can be done on the basis of geographical area, occupation, caste, religion, or ancestral origin
Social regulation	Family is a very important agency of social control. Socialization and personality development take place in the family. The discipline that is learnt and followed in the family is the foundation of control

13.2. Essential Characteristics of Family

• Permanent relations: Family constitutes of the husband and wife, and their children. Thus, a permanent relation of some kind between man and woman is the main characteristic of the family. Marital relations in different countries may be more or less permanent, but the relations between man and woman have some degree of permanency in all cultures.
• Permanent sexual relationship: Family rests on permanent marital relations because one of its objects is the establishment of permanent sexual relationship. Without marriage, there can be no family even though there may be sexual relations.
• Attachment of blood relations: Another necessary characteristic of family is the existence of blood relationship among its members. These blood relationships can be real as well as imaginary. The members of a family are generally the descendants of the same ancestors. The relation between the adopted children and their parents is also accepted as legal because blood relationship means no more than this that among the members of a family there should exist an attachment of the degree of blood relationship.

Figure 9.10 Social Institutions

• Financial provisions for the sustenance of the members: In a family, there is financial provision for the upkeep of its members, senile folk, children, womenfolk, and so on. The earning members of the family arrange for substance of the other members. In this way, the members of the family are enmeshed in the ties of duties and rights. In different cultures the burden of earning may fall on different members.
• Common habitation: If the members of a family reside at different places, it will be difficult to call them a family in spite of there being blood and other relationships. It is a different matter for a member to leave temporarily or for the entire family to change its habitat, but generally all the members of a family live in one residence, be it one room or an entire palace, rented, or the ancestral home of the family.
• Nomenclature: Among the essential characteristics of the family, distinct nomenclature is the one that serves to identify the family.
• In this way, the family is a group of individuals in which men and women have the permanent sex relations of husband and wife, which is distinguished by a name, in which there is adequate financial provision for the relations among the members, and who live in a common habitation.

Family is divided into different types on several bases (Table 9.3).

 

TABLE 9.3 Types of Family

Type	Classification
On the basis of authority	Patriarchal family: The father is the most powerful and unquestionable authority (supreme authority) Matriarchal family: The mother plays dominant role in the family
On the basis of residence	Matrilocal family: The husband lives in the wife’s home Patrilocal family: The wife lives in the husband’s home Changing residence: The husband and wife alternate continuously between each other’s residence
On the basis of ancestry	Matrilineal family: Mother is the basis of ancestry Patrilineal family: Father is the basis of ancestry
On the basis of marriage	Polygamous family: One man marries several women and lives in a family with his wives and children Polyandrous family: One woman marries several men and lives in a family with all of them or with each of them Monogamous family: One man marries only one woman and establishes a family
On the basis of dominance	Nuclear family: The husband and wife with their offspring live together Joint family: The couple lives together with their children’s family Extended family: The husband, wife, children and other dependents like brothers and sisters stay together

13.3. Family as a Social Institution and Basic Unit for Health Services

Family is a group defined by relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the procreation and upbringing of children. It is the first institution in the history of man. It is a fundamental unit of human society. Its foundations rest upon man’s biological and psychological needs. In the modern age, many functions of the family have shifted to other institutions. Psychologists have proved that the absence of family affection has serious impact upon the child’s development.

Family is a social institution, which is essential for the smooth functioning of the society. It functions through a complete structure of reciprocal roles that prescribes the individual’s behaviour in his institutional capacity. An institution has its followers; it is an inseparable part of our collective life. Thus, institutions are structured processes through which people carry on their activities. The structure of social institution refers to the way human beings behave and the mechanism they employ in the process of fulfilment of the basic social function and the realization of social values.

Table 9.4 highlights what social institutions include.

 

TABLE 9.4 Structure of Social Institutions

Type	Description
Personnel	This includes the members of society as they play the social roles related to the various institutional functions. For example, in the institution of family, social roles like siblings and grandparents will exist
Equipment	This includes all the apparatus through which the personnel functions
System	This refers to the pathway in which the personnel and equipment are arranged under a set of organizing principles which give direction to their behaviour

14. FAMILY AS A UNIT FOR HEALTH AND OTHER SERVICES

Family is a primary socializing agency and basic institution which moulds the personality of the child. It fulfils the basic needs of all the family members, which includes health needs also. It is a fundamental unit of society where the psychological, emotional, and social needs of child will be met through family members.

To protect the health and welfare of family members, the elders in the family need to work. Sacrifice, affection, binding, caring, looking after welfare, and so on, are some of the basic functions of the society. As a social institution, the family performs the functions of socialization. It teaches the ways of behaviour accepted for its members. If the health personnel want to bring awareness about health in the society and community, they should first identify the families who are in need and the influencing personalities who provide situational support and who can motivate the individuals to inculcate healthier habits. The family encourages the blossoming of the intelligence of children, and provides opportunities for the expression of joy, desires, pleasures, and urges.

The health of the family members is affected on account of early marriage, frequent pregnancies, high mortality of children and mothers, large size of the family, poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and lack of food, shelter, clothing, and employment.

Basic needs of the family: In order to restore and maintain health, the basic needs of the family must be fulfilled. Table 9.5 shows the basic needs of a family.

Health care provided for the family: Table 9.6 gives a glimpse of the important health services provided by the nurse and community health worker to the family.

 

TABLE 9.5 Basic Needs of a Family

Type	Description
Physical needs	Food, shelter, clothing, and safe physical environment
Biological needs	Safe biological environment, free from communicable diseases, controlled reproduction
Psycho-social needs	A happy home, work for husband, wife and children, basic social securities for the old and the disabled, and health care for all; psychological security

 

TABLE 9.6 Important Health Services Provided by the Nurse and Community Health Worker

Type	Description
Child-rearing and caring	The health workers and nurses need to educate mothers about breastfeeding, nutrition, cleanliness, clothing, habit formation, and hygiene
Socialization	Teaching the young the values of society and acquiring different roles and cultural patterns
Maternal and child health care	Care of women during the pregnancy period and child birth
Preventive care	Care must be taken to prevent the communicable diseases
Follow-ups	Regular care given to maintain the health condition of the family members, and care of sick and old people

14.1. Functions of Family

• Psychological function: The psychological function includes affection, sympathy, love, security, attention, and emotional satisfaction of responses. Such activities in the family include the care of offspring, sexual relationship, companionship, intimacy, and romantic fulfilment.
• Educational function: Family is the first institution of the child, and mother is the first teacher who gives primary care. The child receives the earliest knowledge and experience in the family, which lays foundation for the child’s personality and character formation.
• Protective function: The family has to protect the interest of the child. It gives security in all the dimensions of healthy behaviour.
• Recreational function: The family provides entertainment for its members.
• Religious function: The family has to provide some religious instructions to the child to develop thoughts of kind-heartedness and fulfilling fellow feeling.
• Cultural function: Family keeps the culture of the society alive. It moulds its members according to the social culture. It serves as an instrument of cultural continuity of the society. It transmits ideas, ideologies, folkways, mores, customs, traditions, beliefs, and values from one generation to another. Thus, it helps to maintain the status of society.
• Social function: Family is a socializing agency that maintains social control. Accumulation and transmission of social heritage and social contact with all members is established.
• Reproduction and procreation: Reproductive activity is carried on by all lower and higher animals. But it is an activity that needs control or regulation. The result of sexual satisfaction is reproduction. The process of reproduction is institutionalized in the family.
• Provision of home: Family provides home for its members. The desire for home is strongly felt in men and women. Although children are often born in hospitals, clinics, maternity homes, and so on, they are ultimately nurtured and sustained at home. Even the parents who work outside are dependent on their home for comfort, protection, and peace.
• Status-ascribing function: The family also performs the functions of status ascription and societal identification for the individual.
• Affectional function: Man has physical as well as mental needs. He requires the fulfilment of both of these needs. Family is an institution which provides mental or emotional satisfaction and security to its members. It is the family which provides the most intimate and the dearest relationship for all its members.

Figure 9.11 Functions of Family

• Economic function: The family fulfils the economic needs of its members. This has been the traditional function of family. Previously, the family was an economic unit. Goods were produced in the family. Men used to work in family or in farms for the production of goods. Family members used to work together for this purpose.
• Governmental function: The role of the family in controlling its members is limited to childhood years. In areas of control and administering justice, secondary agencies, such as the state, laws, regulations and legislations, police, court, and so on are the main agencies.

14.2. Family Education: Pre-Marriage, Marriage and Parenthood

Education is an important aspect of human life, because man feels the necessity to train his young ones according to his values and cultural traditions. Every society has some system by which it can transfer its culture to the coming generations. Education for marriage and family life is essential. In order to overcome the problems of family life, the younger generation should be trained for the responsibilities of marriage and parenthood.

Family problems are multiple and solutions to these problems are not simple. Maladjustments and misunderstandings in family are multiple; their causes are also many. So, to promote harmony and stabilization in family life, the most important requirement is education for social life. But in the study of curricula from schools to colleges, we find the study of social life is insignificant in our educational system.

Educating the members of the younger generation before marriage makes them understand the ideals of marriage and family. Pre-marriage guidance helps them know the prerequisites of happy family life. Youngsters should not jump into family life without proper education. Before marriage, they should select their partners after careful thinking and understanding each other. Though individuals are free to select their partner, they should not rely upon only love, but they must give due consideration to parents’ consent, chastity, economic competence, etc. Both the partners must develop confidence and cooperation. They must be prepared to cherish joy and sorrow, health and sickness, prosperity and adversity. A strict scrutiny of application of marriage licenses to wed is a must. State control in prescribing the age at marriage and regulation of divorces through family courts is essential to prevent instability in family life.

14.3. Family Cycle

Family cycle refers to the various stages in the development of the family. These stages vary from culture to culture. R.M. MacIver and C.H. Page indicate certain stages in the family cycle (Table 9.7).

 

TABLE 9.7 Stages in the Family Cycle

Stages	Description
Formative pre-nuptial stage (pre-marriage)	It is marked by an increasing intimacy between man and woman, an exploration and understanding of each other’s personalities
Stage of formation (the nuptial stage) or marriage	This phase begins with marriage when a young man and woman begin to form their family. The couple starts to form the family before the arrival of the offspring. It involves the couple’s living together, promoting environment conducive to living at home, creating new experiences, and establishing positive attitudes towards each other
Child-bearing stage (parenthood)	The family links the parents to one another through the child and introduces newer growing responsibilities
Growth stage	The children are born and the family size increases. The average size of the family in India is four to five compared to about three in the United States of America
Maturity stage	Parents have fulfilled their responsibilities and children no longer require parental care
Stage of retraction	The children grow up and leave the family of origin and form their own families. The parents are left alone

14.4. Types of Family

• Nuclear family: Nuclear or elementary family is universal in all human societies. It consists of the married couple and their children. They occupy the same house called home. The husband plays a dominant role in the family.
• Joint family: Joint family or extended family is a kind of family grouping which is common in India. It consists of a number of married family couples and their children who live together in the same household. All the men are related by blood. The property is held in common. The senior male member controls the internal and external affairs of the family.

Figure 9.12 Types of Family

• The three-generation family: This is a household where there are representatives of three generations—the grandfather, the father, and the grandchildren. The sons continue to live with their parents and have their own children.

15. JOINT FAMILY

Joint family consists of males having a common male ancestor, female offspring not yet married, and women brought into the group by marriage. All of these persons might live in a common household or in several households near to one another. In any case, as long as the joint family holds together, its members are expected to contribute to the support of the whole family and to receive from it a share of the total product.

15.1. Characteristics of the Joint Family

• Large size: The joint family consists of parents, children, grandchildren, and other near relatives along with their women. It is a group in which several basic families live together at one and the same time.
• Combined habitation: The most striking feature of the joint family is living of several families in one house. It facilitates combined habitation.
• Depth of generation: The joint family consists of members of three or more generations, including at least grandparents, parents, and children. Sometimes other kith and kin such as uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandsons also live in the joint family.
• Common roof: Members of the joint family normally reside together under the same roof. However, because of scarcity of accommodation or owing to educational and employment problems, members of the joint family may reside separately.
• Joint property: In a joint family, the ownership, production, and consumption of wealth takes place on a joint basis. It is a cooperative institution. It is similar to a joint stock company, in which there is joint property. The head of the family is like a trustee who manages the property of the family for the material and spiritual welfare of the family members.
• Cooperative organization: The basis of joint family system is cooperation. A joint family consists of large number of members, and if they do not cooperate with one another, it is not possible to maintain the organization and structure of the joint family.

Figure 9.13 Characteristics of Joint Family

• Common religion: Generally, the members of a joint family believe in the same religion and worship similar deities. They perform the religious rites and duties jointly.

• Exercise of authority: In the patriarchal joint family, the eldest male member usually exercises the authority. The super ordination of the eldest member and the subordination of all the other members to him is a key feature of the joint family.
• Identification with obligation towards the family: The members tend to identify themselves with their family. Every member has his or her own duties and obligation towards family. The family in turn protects the interest and promotes the welfare of all. The senior most member of the family acts as the guide for other members.
• A productive unit: This feature of joint family is found among agricultural families. All the members work at one and the same field.
• Self-sufficiency: There was a time the joint family was mostly self-sufficient. It used to meet the economic, recreational, medical, educational, and other needs of the family. Rural agricultural joint families were mostly self-reliant.

15.2. Advantages of Joint Family

• Mode of insurance: The system of joint family ensures the safety and security of the family members. It guarantees the care of those who are mentally and physically weak. In tunes of crisis, the joint family proves to be a vital support system for the children, the aged, the insane, the widows, and the helpless. In a joint family, one can rest assured of support in the trying times of pregnancy; sickness, and so on.

Figure 9.14 Advantages of Joint Family

• Cooperation in agriculture: The joint family system was perhaps created out of sheer economic necessity and still continues to fulfil this purpose. It prevents property from being divided. Our economy has been mainly agricultural. Land, when divided into many small pieces, becomes an uneconomic holding. If a family remains joint, land is protected from extreme subdivision and fragmentation. Besides, the joint family is also advantageous from the human resources point of view. In a joint agriculturist family, the male members do such heavy work as furrowing, sowing, and irrigation, while women assist at the harvest. Children are also an asset. They graze the cattle and collect fuel and manure. Such cooperation helps to minimize the labour costs.
• Guidance of the elders: The joint family system makes it possible for the members to ideally develop their good qualities. If the young begin to develop undesirable and antisocial tendencies, there is the wisdom of the elderly and their sharp eyes to keep a check on them. The experience and loving care of the elderly prevent the young from straying from their path, and they learn to exercise self-control. Besides, the joint family also acts as a nursery for the development of social qualities, such as generosity, patience, service, cooperation, and obedience.
• A sort of club: The joint family is one of the best means of recreation. If children do silly acts on the one hand, the reproach of the elders has its own peculiar style on the other. One can see a mother doting on a child, and brothers and sisters quarrelling and loving. There is fun and frolic in every corner of the household. All these acts have a cumulative effect on the family members and make their lives vibrant. In this way, the joint family naturally becomes a sort of club.
• Socialism in wealth: Everyone in a joint family earns according to his capabilities but obtains according to his needs. In fact, this resembles the socialistic ideal: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
• Associational feeling: Few other institutions foster as much cooperation as the joint family. The members of a joint family have a sense of cultural unity and an associational feeling among themselves.
• Economy of scale: As far as economizing is concerned, a large saving can be made in the payment of rent and in cooking for a large family unit. We may call it the economy of scale.

15.3. Disadvantages of Joint Family

• Stifles personality development: The most glaring defect of the joint family system is the hindrance in the development of the personalities of its members. Personality can develop only in a free atmosphere.

  However, in the joint family, the head, who is usually the oldest member of the family, looks upon even grown-ups as children. He does not allow liberty even to the adult members. In brief, he is the absolute ruler-administrator. Such a dictatorial attitude gives little room for the fostering of individual autonomy or self-dependence.

• Bad condition of women: In a joint family, women do not have the liberty to express themselves freely. They are more of a cog in the wheel. They are expected to perform their duties without raising any question. They cannot even think of asserting their rights.
• Strife: If the brides contradict the oppression or if their husbands choose to speak in their favour, the house becomes strife-torn and a centre of conflict. When the brides talk back to their mothers-in-law they are abused and even beaten by their husbands in connivance with their mothers. Hatred and jealousy between the wives of brothers can lead to a conflict between the brothers, often to a dangerous level. The doings of children add to the bitter atmosphere.

Figure 9.15 Disadvantages of Joint Family

• Laziness: A lack of responsibility or accountability breeds laziness in several members of a joint family. In a joint family, there is hardly any difference in the financial status of those who literally break their backs and those who are very lazy. When a person can eat comfortably without exerting himself, he is unlikely to indulge in any strenuous activity. And the wives of the hardworking tell them to desist from such toil as the rewards they get are not in proportion to the work they do.
• More reproduction: In a joint family, the responsibility for the upbringing, education, and so on, of children is shared. Thus, no individual considers it necessary to lay stress upon controlling procreation. Besides, no distinction is made in the status of the family members on the basis of their earnings or the number of children. The offspring of one member will be treated the same as that of the other, no matter how much he earns or how many children he has.
• Poverty: Almost daily strife, the bad condition of women, absolute rule, lack of responsibility, and blind procreation leads to poor economic conditions of the joint family. At times, the conflict is strong enough to bring about division of land and property. This leads to an even worse economic condition.
• Other defects: In addition to the major shortcomings mentioned earlier, the joint family system has other minor defects. Family strife leads to litigation. Customs and traditions are strictly adhered to in the joint family. Superstition reigns supreme because the older members rule the roost. Since the younger members are not involved in major decisions, they fail to gain confidence. The family persists with old-fashioned thoughts.

15.4. Effects of Present Legislations on Joint Family

The legislations mentioned in Table 9.1 have influenced the solidarity of the joint family The Hindu Marriage Act has led to an increase in the number of divorces as women are no more ready to silently suffer injustices and outrages. The status of women in joint family is very low especially daughters-in-law are controlled and treated like servants by some mothers-in-law. Women have no much respect in certain families, husbands do not respect their wives much in joint family and listen to their parents instead. Hindu Succession Act has passed legislation to protect the married woman. If the woman is maltreated by the family, she can complain and can take decision to live separately if needed, can apply for divorce, even demand money for their expenditure. Also, the woman has the right to sell property, have equal share in the property from joint family. This has created strong revolution in women to come out of all tribulations, but has created rapid disorganization of joint family. Modern legislations for woman in married life has put to a stop to dominance of joint families, which has influenced the organization process of joint family.

15.5. Changes in Hindu Joint Family

In modern India, joint family is changing structurally and functionally. The factors that are responsible for the changes in the joint family system are as follows:

• Economic changes and political ideologies released by the British Government
• Science and technology
• Modern means of transport and communication
• The introduction of new legal system
• Modern education
• Industrialization and urbanization
• Democratic ideals of equality and liberty
• Emancipation of women

16. MODERN FAMILY

The traditional patriarchal family began to crumble after the 18th and 19th centuries. The new social, economic, and technological forces affected the character of the patriarchal family. Industrialization, urbanization, democratic ideals of liberty and equality, and the decline of authoritarian mores affected the social significance of the family. All this gave rise to what we may call the modern family.

The modern family is more individualized and democratic where women enjoy a high prestige and position. About a hundred years back, the family was more of a community. Today, it has become an association. It has completed the transition from institution to association. The role and status of men and women have very much changed. The economic liberalization of women has resulted in equal status for them.

The changing equation of women in the family has transformed family into a new kind of partnership and created new problems for the family of the present and the future.

16.1. Features of the Modern Family

The modern family is a smaller family. It is not a joint family. There is a tendency to have a smaller family and contraceptives are in large use. Women are employed in factories and offices. They are economically independent. The family changed from production to consumption unit. Various home appliances for cooking, baking, and washing, and the use of readymade food products provide lot of leisure to women. The life partners are selected freely by youngsters, and marriage is based on individual romantic love. Parental control and authority have lessened. The modern family woman is not inferior to man but considered as an equal partner in life with equal rights. Both men and women have ample opportunities for frequent contact outside, which may lead to laxity of sex relationships, resulting in pre-marital and extra-marital relationships. The modern family is secular in character. There is little religious control. The authority of religion over marriage and divorce has markedly declined.

16.2. Changes in the Modern Family

In the modern period, the institution of family is undergoing rapid changes and modifications. The main changes in this connection are shown in the Table 9.8. Along with the changes, there are problems as well, that are being confronted by a modern-day family (Table 9.9).

 

TABLE 9.8 Changes in the Modern Family

Change in the Modern Family	Description
Reduction in the economic functions of life	In the modern age, many of the economic functions, which were previously being performed by the family, are now being performed by schools, factories, government, and other associations
Reduction in other activities of the family	Many of the other functions of the family have now been taken over by other agencies. The job of looking after and bringing up children is now being performed in crèches, children parks, and kindergarten schools and by baby-sitters. Hospitals undertake the work of delivering children and of treatment. Restaurant prepare food for thousands of families
Increase in family recreation	Modern families have been transformed in to centres of recreation with the: invention of radio and television, and the advent of indoor games
Laxity in marital and sexual relationships,	The rigidity traditionally associated with marital and sexual relationships no longer characterizes the modern family
Changes in the relationship between men and women	Now that the women have gained equal rights with men, their mutual relationships have undergone many changes. The modern woman has become free from the drudgery of the earlier days
Increase in the importance of children	In the modern family the importance of children has increased. They are now physically maltreated or punished only rarely; rather, they laugh lovingly. The modern families tend to become philo-centric families
Decrease in the importance of blood relationships	In the modern family, there has been a continuous decrease in the importance of blood relationships. The family now constitutes of merely a husband, a wife, and their children
Disorganization of the joint family	The modern family is no longer joint. The joint family is rapidly being disorganized
Smaller family	Due to the prolific use of contraceptives and the tendency to regard children as an obstacle in the progress and enjoyment of life, the birth rate is continuously falling and the modern family is becoming smaller
Family disorganization	The process of disorganization is quite apparent in the modern family. The number of divorces is on the increase. The control which the family exercises over the individual is being lessened
Instability	The modern family is no longer a permanent association. It is precarious and can be rendered violent anytime. Marriage has been reduced to a mere social contract, which it is not difficult to break in the event of the slightest friction

 

TABLE 9.9 Problems Confronting the Modern Family

Problems	Description
Problems of adjustment in the husband-wife relationship	In the modern family, the most difficult problem is that of mutual adjustment between husband and wife. The educated and enlightened woman of today wants to be the equal of her husband in every sphere of life. But the husbands have not yet adjusted to this situation. Hence, a conflict between the two is inevitable. Laxity in sexual relations and the instability of marital relations also tend to create conflict between husband and wife and spoil their relationship
Problems of sexual adjustment	The modern family is also faced with the problem of sexual adjustment, it being the outcome of changes in sexual value. Today, much importance is attached to the gratification of sexual drives. Some people have gone so far as to declare variety in sex relationships not only desirable bur necessary. This tends to encourage pre-marital and extra-marital sex relationships
Marriages based on romantic love	The third major problem that confronts the family is that of marriages being based on romantic love. After marriages of this nature, when the dreams of the husband and wife do not materialize in the family, they are seriously frustrated. They start blaming each other and either live in a state of perpetual strife or break the ties of marriage
Problem of broken marriage	A major problem faced by the modern family is an increase in the number of broken marriages as marriage has been reduced to a mere social contract. Materialism, individualism, and rationalism are the causes of paucity of such feelings as benevolence, love, and so on. Greater stress is laid on sexual pleasure. The women are far less dependent upon men. The laws of divorce are also nor very stringent. All these causes have a cumulative effect in increasing the number of divorces
Problem of working	Nowadays, there are more women employed outside the precincts of the home. They consequently do not get sufficient time to look after their children, Returning exhausted from their work, they do not have the energy left to attend to their husband or their children. This hinders the development of children and increases conflict and misunderstanding between husband and wife
Laxity in family control	A major problem has been created for the modern family by the decrease in the control exercised by the family over its members. This has undermined the administration of the family. Every member wants to pursue his or her own course and does not like any interference, be it advice or rebuke
Family conflict and strife	Changes in the values of life and a reduction of the family control in the modern family have led to increased conflict between husband and wife as well as between parents and children. This conflict is usually not apparent but it does disturb the peace of the family, destroy the faith in one another, and remove the sense of psychological security
Lower birth rate	The birth rate is falling constantly due to late marriages, frequent use of contraceptives, and a tendency to consider children as a burden. This tends to accentuate the instability of the family since the absence of children reduces the sense of responsibility in husband and wife, besides preventing intimate family relations

16.3. Causes of Instability in the Modern Family

The modern family is unstable. An increase in the number of desertions, separations, and divorces is a proof of this. Table 9.10 depicts the main causes of this instability.

 

TABLE 9.10 Causes of Instability in the Modern Family

Cause of Instability	Description
Less social protection in family crisis	Previously, a family crisis of the nature of a maladjustment between husband and wife was overcome by the constraining influence of the elders, kinsmen, and social mores and traditions, and the family was saved from disintegration. With the loss of respect for the power of these modes of social control, the husband and wife are deprived of any guide or mediator, and in a fit of temper or even vengeance, they destroy the delicately and lovingly nurtured sapling, which is the family, no matter how much remorse they may experience when they cool down. At some places, extreme laxity of divorce laws has led to very great instability and impermanence of the family
Replacement of domination by cooperation	According to R.M. MacIver and C.H. Page, the basis of husband–wife relationship in the family is no longer domination, but cooperation. Previously, everywhere, be it the East or the West, the wife was dominated by the husband and hence the family stability survived despite the husband’s domination. But, with the removal of this dominance in the modern times, the stability of the family can be maintained only by benevolence, sympathy, and co-operation

16.3.1. Effects of Modern Civilization on Family Disorganization

Several factors of modern civilization have a major hand in the disorganization of the family. The main causes have been enlisted in Table 9.11.

 

TABLE 9.11 Effects of Modern Civilization

Cause	Description
Industrialism	In the modern industrial system, women and children work in factories along with the men. This reduces the unity of the family and increases disorganization
Ideal of romantic love	Modern marriages are based on the ideal of romantic love. When the dreams of the two partners do not materialize in the family, conflict increases, and is gradually transformed into enmity
Hedonism	Modern civilization is hedonistic. People pay more attention to their rights than to their duties. This increases selfishness and paves the ground for conflict
Individualism	Modern civilization is also individualistic. No one wants to consider the interests of the family. Everyone is engaged in the satisfaction of solely his or her own interest. No one is prepared to sacrifice even the smallest interest of his or her to benefit another. As a result of this, conflict in the family increases
Lack of control in sexual relationship	Another consequence of modern civilization is a change in the values concerning sex. This tends to diminish control in sex relationships, to reduce fidelity in marital relations, and also to increase chances for family disorganization

17. NUCLEAR FAMILY

A nuclear family is typically made up of a father, mother, and their children, be they adopted or biological. The nuclear family has traditionally been the basic unit of the larger family structure. It is from the nuclear family that various values are learned, such as love, tolerance, and coexistence. However, the increasing rates of divorce, delayed marriages, and delayed childbirth continue to affect the prevalence of the nuclear family. Various factors characterize the nuclear family.

The best definition of nuclear family is the parents and children living in the same household. Nuclear families are named because it is the nucleus, or central structure, around which other members of the family may be anchored. An example of other relatives anchored to the nuclear family is the extended family, meaning aunts, grandparents, and so on. The nuclear family, according to some thinkers, could include an adopted sibling, stepchildren, a step-mother, or stepfather. However, others limit nuclear families only to full-blooded children with the biological mother and father.

Nuclear family as a concept started about three decades ago. It was more of compulsion in the initial times. The husband had a job outside the home town and had to get the wife and kids along. Now, it is more of a choice now. Reason behind is the need for independence and autonomy in decision making. It started with the separation of the male siblings after marriage. This separation was more of a rescue from everyday family quarrels.

17.1. Characteristics of Nuclear Family

• Monogamous: At the heart of a nuclear family is the union between one mother and one father. An existing marriage or legal union between the father and the mother is also a defining aspect of a nuclear family. Additionally, the father and mother in a nuclear family generally tend to stay together under one roof, despite circumstances like occasional travel for work. This is unlike a single family in which a child’s father and mother stay separately and are not within an existing marriage or legal union.
• Responsibilities: The responsibilities of running a nuclear family are solely on the man and wife of the home. Some nuclear families have both parents working outside the home, others have the man working outside the home while the wife stays at home, and still a small minority has the man staying at home while the wife works. This is contrary to joint or extended families in which other family members such as grandparents and aunts may take up some responsibilities in the family.
• Small and intimate: Modern nuclear families are typically small in size and tend to be intimate. However, there are some slight variations in that some families have a mother, father, and many biological or adoptive children. These too are nuclear families, even though they are not modelled from the archetypically small modern family
• Emotional component: The nuclear family produces the emotional unit of the family structure. Children develop their emotional and cognitive senses from the core of the nuclear family—the mother and the father. It is also within the nuclear family that the father and mother develop the capability of managing emotions, such as fear, anger and disappointment between the two of them and among their children. This emotional component is then carried on by the children into their own family and the cycle goes on.
• Impermanent: The nuclear family is impermanent because at some point the children of that family cease to live with their parents. These children move away to create their own families and the strong ties between their original family and their pro-creational family (the family in which you marry and have children) tend to erode. This is unlike the joint or extended family, which increases in size as offspring grow up and create their own families.

17.2. Advantages of Nuclear Family

• Stability: A child raised by the same two parents during their maturing years is more likely to have emotional bonding and relationship stability. Children raised by a single parent will likely have a sense of loss for the missing parent and lack the advantage of duel insights, emotional support, and examples that come from having both a mother and a father.
• Legacy: A nuclear family of a husband and wife provides a lifelong consistency of purpose and usually includes a much larger extended family that a child can use for positive examples: grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins. The children can feel a part of a larger whole, especially when included in traditional gatherings that include all of the above. Even without the living presence of grandparents, children will learn from stories of the past which can provide guidance to their present, or add a sense of cause and effect with which to view their parent’s behaviours and inclinations and learn of a source of their own physical inheritance, such as hair colour or height.
• Moral coding: A child gets a better sense with both a mother and a father of what is acceptable behaviour and what is not, especially when both parents are involved in the nurturing of the child. Agreement adds authority to principles.
• Skill building: When a child is a member of a nuclear family, the child will often receive more extensive life skills training as a result. For example, a mother is more likely to teach relationship skills, such as how to get along with others and emotional response skills while a father is more likely to challenge a child to develop sports or handiwork skills, such as how to hit a baseball or how to fix things, and how to relate to the outside world such as employment skills or driving skills.
• Shared responsibility: Having two parents allows for a more balanced load of nurturing the children, sometimes giving one parent time to observe other demands or getting a rest while the other works or plays with the children. Children in a nuclear family will develop joint responsibilities usually in an age or gender expected order, such as an older brother protecting a younger sister. By being members of a nuclear family, these roles are usually transferred more by example and expectation than by formal instruction.
• Mutual support: A nuclear family will have more emotional and physical resources with which to support the whole, and children learn to aid the building of the family through observation and example of their parents, thus providing a possible support feedback when the children are able to help when one or both parents are unable to provide for their own needs due to aging or when impairments occur.

17.3. Disadvantages of Nuclear Family

• Lesser logistical support: Unlike the joint family set-up the nuclear couple doesn’t have the elder members managing chores, such as cooking, house maintenance, and so on. Although everything can be managed by financial resources in nuclear family but there will be always a difference in personal warmth and the task.
• Loss of culture and values: Every joint family system passes the heritage of family values which are practices since ages. All such core features get lost somewhere when people opt for nuclear family set-up.
• Comparative loneliness: A couple in a nuclear family is seen as a separate isolated unit. If either or both the couples are not having time and energy to mingle or go for family reunions, the couple slowly moves towards living a shell life.
• No immediate support in rocky phases: Amongst core advantages of the joint family set-up is immediate support in moments of emergency. There are times when either or both the couple might need emotional support which may be they are not able to provide to each other. In the nuclear set-up there is a very little possibility that they get a preventive intervention, unless the matter is really worse.
• No access to life wisdom: While people are young they misperceive the views of elders as orthodox. Still a lot of views of elders are a summary of their personal life experiences. Being away from elders deprives the new couple from getting benefited from such great pieces of wisdom.

18. BLENDED AND EXTENDED FAMILY

18.1. Blended Family

A blended family is the active merging of stepfamily members into the family unit. In other words, when a stepfamily enters into another family unit, there is a desire from the parents or grandparents to bring the families together socially. Even if the head of the families has a positive attitude in joining together distinct families, there are advantages and disadvantages to this type of family cohesion.

A family formed by the remarriage of a divorced or widowed parent. It includes the new husband and wife, plus some or all of their children from previous marriages. Blended family is a term recently coined, to define those households composed of parents and children who may not all be related by blood. The results of blending a family are stepparents and stepchildren. Many of you, who live in blended family households, are aware of the unique stresses and strains that affect blended families. Simply, the more members there are in any family, the more complex is the task of relating.

18.2. Advantages of Blended Family

• Happier parents: Happier parents mean happier children and this can be created by remarriage. Blended families can also mean a more loving living environment, which could be an improvement from a pre-divorce home life of anger and hostility. Another positive benefit for children is an expanded extended family network, where new aunts, uncles, and even grandparents can help them through the transition period as well as offer support and love.
• Higher living standard: Children of divorce often experience a family income reduction, sometimes a substantial one. In most cases, the children end up in a female-headed, single-parent household and living with serious economic challenges. With the new blended household, the family income is typically increased because the remarriage usually brings greater access to resources. When the standard of living increases, the family’s stress because of the former financial instability, decreases.
• Increased role models: Positive role models are important in a child’s life and blended marriages often provide greater access to people who fulfil this role. The increased diversity of role models improves the child’s outlook on how family structures can vary. It can also expose the child to new experiences, such as a cousin’s career in teaching or an uncle’s love of fishing.
• More relatives and siblings: When children and a parent move into a new blended living arrangement, although potentially tense, they are once again part of a two-parent family. Another advantage is less verbal fighting, which might have all but disappeared. For children, a blended family can mean more children to play with, share new experiences, and build mutual support from. In addition, more relatives like aunts, uncles, and grandparents, mean new avenues for sharing holidays, birthdays, and celebrations.

18.3. Extended Family

The term extended family defines the family that extends beyond the nuclear family consisting of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all living nearby or in the same household. There can be many benefits to life in an extended family but there can also be many problems. Among the benefits of the extended family is the fact that there are many more adults available to help raise the children. This takes a lot of pressure off of the parents to be the only role models and sources of discipline at home. Grandparents are also a great source of information for their grandchildren about the past. This is really important at a time when change is constantly occurring throughout the world. Grandparents are a link to that past history that is part of family lore, history, and ways of life during a different era.

18.3.1. Disadvantages

Disadvantages of an extended family are as follows:

• Younger siblings tend to adopt the bad habits older siblings do. For example, smoking or drinking.
• Envy or jealousy tends to develop. For example, the family member will envy you for something you have that they don’t.
• Financial problem. For example, all the members of the family can be working but they are selfish with their money.

• Family is a social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative groups to oversee the bearing and raising of children.
• Family ties are also called kinship, a social bond based on blood, marriage or adaptation.
• Throughout the world, families form around marriage, a legally sanctioned relationship, usually involving economic co-operation as well as sexual activity and child-bearing, which people expect to be enduring.

I. LONG ESSAY

• Define marriage. Explain the functions and types of marriage.
• Define family. Explain the important functions and characteristics of family.

II. SHORT ESSAY

• Explain endogamy and exogamy.
• Explain polygamy and monogamy.
• Explain marriage legislation and family problems.
• Explain marriage–health connections.
• Discuss effects of marital status on health.
• Discuss family as a unit for health services.
• Describe the characteristics and advantages of joint family.
• Explain features and problems of modern family.

III. SHORT ANSWERS

• Explain polyandry and polygyny.
• Explain inter-caste marriage.
• Explain divorce in India.
• Explain pre-marriage.
• Explain parenthood.
• Explain family cycle.
• Explain nuclear family
• Explain blended family.
• Explain extended family.

IV. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Exogamy is
   1. marriage outside the group
   2. marriage within the group
   3. an experimental marriage
   4. companionate marriage
2. Marriage within the cast is called
   1. endogamy
   2. exogamy
   3. sagotra
   4. hypergamy
3. The rule that one must marry within one’s own caste is called
   1. hypogamy
   2. hypergamy
   3. endogamy
   4. exogamy
4. Which one is not a secondary kin?
   1. wife of brother-in-law
   2. sister’s husband
   3. brother’s wife
   4. wife’s brother
5. Which one of the following is the most common marriage in the world?
   1. polyandry
   2. monogamy
   3. companionate marriage
   4. experimental marriage
6. Mark out the Indian types of family:
   1. polyandrous
   2. conjugal
   3. matrilineal
   4. consanguineous
7. Which of the following methods state does not use to influence the family?
   1. social legislation
   2. propaganda
   3. education
   4. compulsory family planning
8. What is considered as essential to the origin of the family?
   1. sexual urge
   2. economic need
   3. need for procreation
   4. all of the above
9. Polyandry is the form of marriage which implies
   1. one women marring several men
   2. one women has one husband
   3. one women marring one man and his brother
   4. a women marring one man and his brother
10. Which of the following is not a characteristic of patriarchal family?
    1. husband may be a casual visitor
    2. wife comes to live in the house of husband
    3. children have no right over property of the mother’s family
    4. father is the supreme head of the family
11. The extended family is the opposite of nuclear family. It does not exist in
    1. USA
    2. India
    3. Nepal
    4. Bangladesh
12. Family is an
    1. economic group
    2. religious group
    3. kinship group
    4. all of the above
13. Family originated when
    1. men came out of the primitive stage of society
    2. there prevailed promiscuous relations between men and women
    3. the lord created a women
    4. men felt the need for procreation
14. A patriarchal family is wherein
    1. descent is reckoned through the father
    2. marriage relations are transitional
    3. the husband goes to live in the home of his wife
    4. all the members share equal authority
15. A matriarchal family is wherein
    1. marriage relations are permanent
    2. descent is reckoned through the mother
    3. authority of the family rests in the father
    4. all children succeed to the property
16. On the basis of blood relationships a family may be
    1. conjugal or consanguineous
    2. matrilineal or patrilineal
    3. nuclear or extended
    4. matrilocal or patrilocal
17. Which of the following is not a basis for classification of family?
    1. ancestry
    2. structure
    3. religion
    4. residence
18. The essential functions of the family are
    1. satisfaction of sex need
    2. production and rearing of children
    3. socialization of children
    4. transmission of culture
19. Family occupies a key role in the society because
    1. it provides recreation to its members
    2. it adds to the economic growth of the society
    3. it exercise a persistent and intimate influence on the personality of individual
    4. it provides the means of sexual satisfaction
20. In a modern family
    1. there is decreased control of marriage bond
    2. the father dominates the whole life of the family
    3. the mother possesses an inferior position
    4. the children have less freedom
21. Which of the following is not features of modern family?
    1. economic independence
    2. decline of religious control
    3. laxity in sex relationship
    4. subordination of wife
22. State controls the family because
    1. it is the custodian of religion
    2. it is prior to the society
    3. it is in the interest of society to regulate marriage
    4. it is to maintain public peace
23. Which is the following is not a feature of joint family?
    1. joint property
    2. common religion
    3. common occupation
    4. small size
24. Which of the following factors are responsible for the disintegration of joint family system in India?
    1. industrialization
    2. social legislation
    3. education of women
    4. women franchise

ANSWERS

1. a 2. a 3. c 4. a 5. b 6. d 7. d 8. d 9. a 10. a 11. a 12. c 13. d 14. a 15. b 16. a 17. c 18. a 19. c 20. a 21. d 22. c 23. d 24. a

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