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A joint family is on a disintegrating path ever since society graduated into an age of technological advance, changing
gender roles and better employment opportunities. Interdependence on each other in large families seems to have been
replaced by independent living and self-sufficient attitude.
Silent changes have been taking place in the family life of India for the last few decades. The old joint family system have
been disintegrating and in their places nuclear families, each with three or four members are coming into being. There
have been several causes that have been provoking disintegration of our old extended families.
Living together under one roof which was once about shared values and harmonious co-existence, today raises questions
on adjustment and compromise. Couples post weddings settle down away from their in-laws and relatives to avoid what
they now call an 'intrusion' into their conjugal space that decades back did not mean the same.
Staying away or close, the spirit of togetherness in a family should remain alive, forever!
1. Contact with the West:
Modernization in India started mainly with the western contact, especially through establishment of the British rule. This
contact had a special historicity which brought about many far-reaching changes in culture and social structure in Indian
Society.
Western culture presented before the Indians a new type of family, a family comprising of the spouses and children which
became more and more favored than the joint-family-living. The concepts of love, equality, freedom and close association
between the spouses which were prevalent in the western type of life became alluring for the Indians who were crushed
under the sense of sacrifice responsibilities and devotion, devoid of love and affection.
2. Industrialization:
Prof. Y. Singh holds that one way to characterize change is to associate conjugal or nuclear forms of families with
relatively modernized or industrial society and extended and joint types of families with traditional agrarian and preindustrial societies. George P.Murdock also holds that the forms and functions of family have undergone adaptive
changes in the technological and economic superstructure of society.
The joint family in India was found to be stable in the agricultural stage and in the village life when people did not realize
the necessity of going away from their families. But with the establishment of factories and industries in many places of
the country, agriculture was pushed to the background and with it changed those social institutions which were its
products. The industrial centres pulled persons of different families out of the traditional peasant societies comprising of
joint families.
People were compelled to leave their joint families and village communities. With the dawn of industrial era, the village
and cottage industries experienced adverse effects. The manpower released out of those village and cottage industries
found employment in the industrial centres scattered over many distant places in India. This struck at the roots of joint
families and the process of disintegration started. Furthermore the process of disintegration also gained momentum from
the rapid development of transport and communication.
3. Urbanization:
Urbanization and industrialisation are often construed as twin forces of change and both these factors influence each
other. Urbanization occurs due to industrialisation and vice-versa. With the high rate of urbanization the composition of
labours force changes considerably. The percentage of workers dependent on agriculture comes down and more and
more people run to cities and towns in search of jobs.
The urban centres also provide people with various amenities of life concerning transport and communication, sanitation
and health, education and employment etc. People are tempted with the lure of urban civilization and there is a rural to
urban type of migration. Since an extended family or joint family cannot always be maintained in the towns or cities, due to
high cost of urban living and problem of accommodation, people afford to live in the nuclear type of families.
Social reform movements, spread of modern education, womens awareness regarding their own position, all affected the
patriarchal authority of the joint family system. The spread of modern education enlightened the women, it made them
conscious of their rights and status in society. It brought about drastic changes in the practices and ideals of family among
the Hindus.
They were no more prepared to remain within the four walls of the household in the traditional subordinate position. Social
reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Ray, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Keshab Chandra Sen, Maharshi Karve and Pandit
Ramabai could work and achieve considerable measure of success for the cause of women. The real breakthrough,
however, came in the twentieth century when Gandhi launched the civil disobedience movement, and with unerring
instinct asked the women to come out of their homes to take part in it shoulder to shoulder with their men folk.
The joining of women in the Indian National Congress and political movement intermingled them in the National
mainstream and resulted in their economic independence. All these factors affected the patriarchal authority of the joint
family system and the in-laws failed to adjust with the educated and conscious women. As a sequel to that the process of
disintegration started in the joint family.
7. Family Quarrels:
Differences in the interest of members of a joint family, disparities relating to earning of the members and clash of
personalities caused quarrels. Conflicts also occurred due to unequal distribution of work at house, extra economic
burden and emotional strain and same type of treatment to the lazy members. These spoiled the happiness in the family
and caused dissatisfaction among the members of the family and many a time it became so intolerable that the
breakdown of joint family appeared to be the only way out.
8. Over-population and Impoverishment:
Due to unrestricted reproduction in the joint family, population increased. It brought pressure upon agricultural land.
Agriculture could not provide employment to all villagers, which was the main occupation of the villagers, so far. As a
result, the Indian village communities experienced the problems of poverty and unemployment. Hence, the unemployed
people were forced to migrate to the urban and industrial centres in search of employment. After getting their source of
livelihood in the town or cities they formed their families of procreation and had to part with their families of orientation.
9. Accommodation-Problems:
In the urban-industrial matrix the problem of accommodation is very acute. Due to the great density of population, and the
high cost of living the migrants are not in a position to afford a big house which can accommodate all the members of a
joint family, small houses become insufficient to accommodate all the members of the joint family. Hence single families
are only maintained in the place of work.
10. Developed means of transport and communication:
In the past, people were less mobile because of lack of transport and poor communication. Since they were relatively
immobile, they had to stay in the joint family and village community. But with the rapid development of the means of
transportation and communication, people have become more and more mobile. They now move from one place to
another within no time. In the past, the caste system was very rigid and people were taking to their family occupation. But
now due to the improved means of transport and communication, people move to different places in search of various
kinds of jobs and employment. All these factors cause the breakdown of the traditional joint family system.
11. Decline of Agriculture and Village Industries:
The joint family system was a product of the agrarian society. The villagers solely depended upon agriculture and agrobased cottage industries. But under the changed circumstances, the commodities produced by the village craftsmen and
artisans could not withstand the challenge posed due to low price and good quality products of the factories. As a result,
there was decline of village industries and finally they were closed down, the raw materials were sent to the industrial
centres for processing and to produce finishing goods. People in the rural areas lost their employment and went to the
industrial and urban centres in search of employment. These things brought about the disintegration of joint family.