Significance, Sorts Ans Structure Of Family In India

WHAT IS FAMILY?

Family in human society is a group of people related either by consanguity( by blood) or affinity( by marriage or other relationships).The purpose of families is to maintain the well being of it’s members and of society. Ideally, family would offer predictability, structure, and safety as members mature and participate in the community. In most societies, it is within the families that children acquire socialisation for life outside the family and acts as the primary source of attachment, nurturing and socialization for humans. Additionally, as the basic unit for meeting the basic needs of it’s members, it provides a sense of boundaries for performing tasks in a safe environment, ideally builds a person into a functional adult, transmits culture, and ensures continuity of humankind with precedents of knowledge.

Significance OF FAMILY

Assists with addressing BASIC NEEDS :The essential social unit called the family is entrusted with meeting the fundamental necessities of those relatives who can't accommodate themselves. This incorporates minors, the old and crippled, or just the individuals who can't bear to live without anyone else. Essential necessities, for example, food, water, home and clean air are available when at least one individual can give these things to the entire family.

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• Monetary SECURITY :A well working family gives monetary security to everybody living in the family unit. To start with, relatives who can work and contribute at any rate a piece of their earning to help the family meet everybody's needs. Second, the family manages to pay bills and figure out how to guarantee the money related necessities are constantly dealt with.
• BUILT– IN SUPPORT SYSTEM : Many individuals have ended up with incredible news yet nobody to tell it to. That is a problem one rarely has when living in a family. Individuals who are in sound families approach each other that a few people don't have. What's more, everybody has tough situations. A solid family has each other's back. At the point when relatives are under pressure, somebody near them is well on the way to see the indications that they are battling with some stress. Individuals may hide their issues with others, yet their family regularly as of now gets it. Regardless of whether they don't approve somebody's activities, they love genuinely. They're there for relatives.
• Medical advantages : Youngsters appreciate a solid way of life when they live in a sound family. They have sound dinners, are urged to get up and move, appreciate time outside, and get instant clinical consideration when required. Medical advantages exist for guardians as well. Examination has demonstrated that individuals who live with kids in their family keep an eye on living more, even after the youngsters have grown up and moved away. This might be on the grounds that guardians will in general eat more advantageous food, stop smoking, decrease their drinking, stop utilizing drugs and may even remain more dynamic contrasted with the childless peers.
• THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS :The community group benefits when the family calms it of the weight of supporting individuals from that family. Solid families produce individuals living alone. What's more they show their kids at a youthful age that the main way they can control what sort of community they have is to add to it. At the point when guardians add to their community by giving cash or required supplies, they model a demeanor of mindful. They show their youngsters that giving cash, food or supplies to the network helps uphold it so it can serve everybody better. Guardians add to society by attempting to guarantee that their family gets the most ideal instructive chances. They may give money, or they may utilize their informal organization to support a school – age student to get a job. Their passionate and reasonable assistance may be considerably more significant than money related help.
• Crime is a part of human civilization : atleast it has been in many parts of the world more often than not. Families can't kill wrongdoing, however they can prevent it and decrease it's effect.
• Significance OF FAMILY IN EDUCATING CHILDREN : One of the main ways guardians add to society is by instructing their kids. The learning doesn't go only one way by the same token. In a sound family learning has a high need maybe soon after gathering essential requirements. Talking around the supper table, relatives frequently share their political perspectives. They may examine the issue in a forthcoming political decision or the capabilities of an applicant. This moves everybody to discover more about individuals and thoughts included so they can settle on an educated choice when it's their chance to cast a ballot.

Guardians start teaching their kids when they're born. They may assist them with figuring out how to walk and instruct them new words as they build up their vocablury. Most guardians are prepared in various manners with regards to helping their kids realize when they go to class. They can empower scholorship and moral conduct also.

Sorts OF FAMILY IN INDIA

JOINT FAMILY: A joint family or unified family is a more distant family plan predominant all through the Indian subcontinent, especially in India, comprising of numerous ages living in a similar family, all limited by regular relationship. A joint family comprises of a couple; their children; their little girls, etc upto ages. Quite a few these individuals may without affecting the lawful presence of the family, be diminished.

Nuclear family: A nuclear family or intimate family is a family bunch comprising of two guardians and their kids ( at least one). It is as contrast to a single parent family, the bigger more distant family or a family with multiple guardians. Family units normally focus on a wedded couple which may have quite a few kids. There are contrasts in meanings of observers. Some definitions allow only biological children that are full – blood siblings and consider adopted or half and step siblings a a part of the immediate family, but others allow for a stepperant and any mix of dependent children including step children and adopted children, Some sociologists and anthropologists think about the family unit as the most essential type of social association.

FAMILY STRUCTURE

Truly, India had a custom that was winning from ages of the joint family or unified family. The framework is a more distant family game plan predominant all through the Indian subcontinent, especially in India, comprising of numerous ages living in a similar home, all limited by the basic relationship. A joint family comprises of a couple; their children; their little girls, etc upto ages. Quite a few these individuals may without affecting the lawful presence of the family, be diminished.

The family is going by a senior individual called a 'Karta', is typically a male or a female, who settles on choices on monetary and social issues for the whole family. The patriarch's better half by and large applies authority over the family unit and minor strict practices and frequently uses significant impact in homegrown issues. Family income flows into a common pool, from which resources are drawn to meet the needs of all members, which are regulated by the heads of the family. Anyways with urbanization and monetary turn of events, India has seen a separation of customary joint family into smaller arrangements – like families, and the conventional joint family in India represented few families.

A Hindu undivided family is a legal term related to the Hindu Marriage Act. The female members are also given the right to share to the property in the HUF. The term finds it’s reference in the provisions of the income tax Act, but the expression is not defined in the act. There are various aspects of Hindu law relevant for the purpose assessment of income of HUF with Hindu Succession act of 1956 and Income Tax Act 1961 and wealth in the status of HUF, as well as the provisions of Hindu Succession Act 1956 as amended by the Hindu Succession (Ammendment) Act, 2005 relevant for the purpose of assessment of income and wealth in the status of HUF under the Income Tax Act 1961.

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND

Economic background has become a very prominent factor in the likelihood of living in an extended family. The relative economic deprivation of racial and ethnic minorities leads to higher level of joint family involvement. Having family on which one can rely is very important in times of economic hardship especially if there are children involved. Living in a joint family provides constant care for children and support for other members of the family as well. A joint family is a survival strategy in the face of economic difficulties. Being able to rely on not only two parents but grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters helps to create a support system which in turn brings families closer together. Living in a joint family provides many things which a nuclear family does not.

CHANGING PERSPECTIVE OF JOINT FAMILY STRUCTURE IN INDIA

Families have both structure and function. Like the skeleton and muscles in a body, the structure is what gives a family it’s size and shape. Also, like organs within the body that perform necessary functions to keep the body working, there are certain necessary functions that keep families healthy. It sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It asserts that our lives are guided by social behaviour. Social structures give shape to our lives – for examples, in families, the community, and through religious ceremonies, give structure to our everyday lives. Each social structure has social functions or consequences for the operation of society as a whole.

Social structures consists of social relationships as well as any social institutions within a society. One example of a social structure is a social class( upper class, middle class and poor). Another example of a social structure is the different levels of a government. Family, religion, law, economy, and class are all social structures.

INDIA AND IT’S FAMILY STRUCTURE

India has a rich family structure with a patrilineal background, which help the family members to sustain a life with kingship groupings. Earlier, mostly joint families were found where family members live together under one roof. They all mutually work, eat, worship and co-operate each other in one or the other way. This also helps the family to get strong mentally, physically and economically, the children also get to know about the values and traditions of the society from their grandparents and elders. The family system has given a lot of importance in India and has worked more often to make the bonding among families stronger. The family system has given a lot of importance in India and has worked more often to make the bonding among families stronger. Meanwhile, the urbanisation and westernisation had it’s influence on the basic structure of the Indian family structure. The division of the joint family into smaller units is not the symbol of people rejecting this traditional structure. The circumstances and conditions also made the need for people to split the family.

The family as a social institution has been undergoing change. Both in it’s structure and functions changes have taken place. India, as in many traditional societies, the family has been not only the centre of social and economic life but also the primary source of support for the family members. The increasing commercialisation of the economy and the development of the infrastructure of the modern state have introduced a significant change in the family structure in India in the 20th century. Especially, the last few decades have witnessed important alterations in family life.

India’s fertility rate has fallen, and couples have begun to bear children at a later age. At the same time, life expectancy has increased , resulting in more elderly people who need care. All of these changes are taking place in the context of increased urbanization, which is separating children from elders and contributing disintegration of family – based support systems.

FACTORS AFFECTING FAMILY STRUCTURES

Change in fertility: An inevitable outcome of declining fertility rates and increasing age at first birth in most of the countries in the world, including India, is a reduction in family size. Fertility declined due to the combined effect of substantial socio-economic development achieved during the last two decades and the effective implementation of family planning programmes.

Hence, it has become irrational for many people to have large families as the cost of children is increasing. In traditional societies, where human labour was a source of strength to the family, more children were preferred to fewer. But as the economic contribution from the children in a family decreased, because of a move away from agriculture, the need for large numbers of children decreased. Improvements in health care and child survival also contributed. The emphasis was on the quality of life rather than number of children, a new concept added to the family.

Change in age of marriage: In many countries in the world where significant declines infertility are being experienced, reductions in the proportion of people never, married have often coincided with or preceded declines in marital fertility. A subsatantial increase in the proportions never married, among both males and females, at young ages has been noted in many countries. A consequence of the increase in the proportion of never married young adults is the gradual upward trend of the average age at marriage. Postponement of marriage among females resulted in the postponement of child bearing in the reduction of family size.

Change in mortality: Mortality declines, particularly infant mortality, everywhere preceded the decline of fertility. Improved survival rates of children means that when women reached the age of 30 they increasingly had achieved the completed family size they desired. Earlier much larger births were required to achieve the desired completed family size. In the last three decades infant mortality has declined significantly in every country and this trend undoubtedly influenced the fertility decline. Mortality decline followed by fertility decline altered the age structure of the population and also the structure within individual families.

Marriage dissolution: It is no longer the case that all marital unions, whether formal or informal reach final dissolution through death. A considerable proportion of unions are disrupted suddenly for reasons such as desertion, seperation or divorce. An obvious failure in a family relationship is where husband and wife cease to live together. Thise women who are divorced at latter ages mostly remain single for the rest of their lives and live with their dependents. The idea that when a couple has children it will be less likely to divorce is widely accepted in most of the societies. However, it has been believed in the last couple of years even in most of the Asian cultures, including India, a great proportion of divorce involves couples with young children.

Participation of women in economic development: The commercialization process which opened markets in many developing has succeeded in replacing the traditional co-operation, in the economic relationship with that of competition. In this process, the social institutions in these countries found themselves in conflict with the key aspects of the new economic systems. The economics of the family and the sexual division of labour within the family is very much determined by opportunities in the labour market. The developing economies of system India have facilitated the freeing of women from household chores and their entrance to their labour markets. The declining ability of men to earn a ‘family wage’ along with the growing need for cash for family maintenance has resulted in an increasing number of family members( particularly the wife) in the family engaging in economic activity.

According to Talcott Parsons, modern industrial society has led to the growth of what he calls “isolated nuclear family”. This family is structurally isolated as it does not form an integral part of the wider kingship group.

Family is very fluid social institution and in the process of constant change. The modern family, or rather the post modern family is also witnessing several new forms of it cropping up. Modernity is witnessing the emergence of same sex couples (LGBT relationship), cohabitation or live in relations, single parent households, a large chunk of divorced living alone or with their children.

JOINT FAMILY Vs NUCLEAR FAMILY

In India, the joint family system has been prevalent since a long time. However with the passage of time, the importance of joint family system ha been disintegrated. This in turn gave rise to nuclear family system. One of the main causes of disintegration of joint family systems in society was job opportunities in the cities. And there was a lack of living space in cities. It became difficult to accommodate all the members of a joint family in one single home in a city. Cost of living in cities was also higher.

Another advantage of a nuclear family was privacy. Some other advantages of nuclear family included specific sense of freedom that gave a nuclear family the ability to live as they wished to. It avoided stress and discomfort to the family members.

The disadvantages of nuclear family included that if the father and mother both wanted to work and both of them went to work, in that case they had to live their child/children alone with the baby sitter, where the child gets no family values. Feeling of security and safety and a sense of support system lacked.

The advantages of joint family included that family members never felt alone, there were always people to loof after children. Work and expenses could be shared. Guidance and care would also be present. Disadvantages included family members could lose their individuality. The main disadvantage of a joint family was interference in all the activities of the members and the lack of privacy for personal feelings.