Comparative Essay on Joint Family Vs.

Nuclear Family System

DINAYAK SHENOY ESSAY

In India, the joint family system has been in existence since ancient times. The father is considered as the head of the family. His wife, sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren together constitutes a joint family. The head of the family feels proud of the great number of members. However, with the passage of time, the joint family system has disintegrated, giving rise to the nuclear family system. The nuclear family consists of a man, his wife and their children. Job opportunities available in the cities become the main cause of the disintegration of the joint family system. People migrated to the cities in search of jobs. For a number of reasons, a joint family system could not exist in the cities. There is a lack of living space in the cities. It is difficult to accommodate all the members of a joint family in a single house in the city. To cost of living is very high in the cities. It is generally believed that mother-in-law and daughter-in-law do not get along well in a city household. In ancient and medieval times, the older members of the family enjoyed great respect. They relaxed in the company of their counterparts. They amused themselves with the pranks of their grandchildren. They handled the financial matters of the household. But with the rise of towns and cities, the older and younger generations widened a great deal. A survey, carried out in the capital city, Delhi revealed that 40 % of the elderly people have no caretakers. They spend their old age away from the love and care of their children and grandchildren. There has been a steep rise in the crime rate against senior citizens. Old age have been set up at various places to take care of the senior citizens. In Delhi, Police departments is making a list of helpless senior citizens to make arrangements for their safety. A nuclear family has many advantages. In a nuclear family, the mother is able to look after the needs of her children well. She can take care of their personal needs in a much better way than she could in a joint family. The family earns, spends and saves money for itself. Parents can invest money for the education of their children. They can put them in good schools and for provide them with better career opportunities. They can understand one another well. But in a joint family system, children don't get individual attention. The womenfolk never find time to look after their children for they remain busy in the household work. Children are not educated much as they join the family occupation. The womenfolk face many restrictions disharmony occurs because of the size of the family. A nuclear family has its disadvantages too. Due to high cost of living in the cities, both the parents pursue a career of their own. This may leave the children unguided. They find no one for advice or discussion. They spend their childhood without the much needed love and company of their parents. Infants spend their time in crches. Overcrowded, poorly ventilated buildings and apathetic staff of the crches have a negative influence on the wellbeing of the children.

With education and awareness, children and the youth today have developed liberal views. They question the age old traditions. Parents should advise them when necessary or when they move towards the wrong path. They should discuss all matters openly with their children. This would reduce the communication gap between parents and children. The youth today crave for name, fame and wealth. In the nuclear family with working parents sometimes, the youth receives no guidance from their parents. They turn to friends for advice. Many a time, friends misguide them. They are misled. In the joint family system, the older members are likely to guide the young ones. Being old and experienced, they are able to provide solutions to their problems. The older generation should be revered. They are an asset to the society. The media is somewhat responsible for the disintegration of the joint-family system. It often portrays the mother-in-law as a threat to the well-bring of the young bride. In some movies, she is shown to influence her son against the young bride. Many of the serials in television portray the negative aspect of elders. Newspapers also report about gruesome acts committed in some families. The foreign media has instilled western liberal views in the youth. All these factors curb the development of the family as a close knit unit, The media should try to restore the lost image of the old and the young. The advantage of the joint family system outweigh the disadvantages. In the cycle of life, one will certainly reach old age and one will face the same problems as one's parent or grandparents have undergone. So, old parents and grandparents should not be deprived of the love and care of the near and dear ones. But again, it is upto the younger generation to decide.

Joint family v/s nuclear family - which is better?

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Have you ever lived in a joint family? Do feel that the joint family system could benefit you? With both the husband and wife having to work to sustain the family do you feel that the children could do better with the indulgence of their grandparents? Read on to find out! The joint family A joint family involves much more than people living under the same roof. Those of you who have experienced it will know its worth. With everyone putting in his or her part, the old joint family system could benefit everyone. Not only do your children get to live and grow with their grandparents and cousins, they also learn the value of relationship. They learn to give and take, to be patient, cooperative, tolerant and to adjust with the other family members. Have you ever wondered why some people are so good at teamwork? Well this is where it begins - at home! The joint family system inadvertently contributes to your security, health and prosperity. This is one system that could help you to live a less stressful life style, the reason being you have a lot of people around to help you and to share your sorrows and joys.

This was just how it was long long ago Long ago, most if not all families lived as joint families. The joint family system helps to inculcate traditional values in children. Not only will your children know more of your relatives, your native language will be spoken much more frequently. A strong bond with your culture can be developed. All the festivals that are a part of you will be celebrated with the children gearing up weeks in advance. The nuclear family If you feel you need your space and cannot disrupt your routine with clashes you probably want to go with the nuclear family system. This definitely has a few benefits like helping you become independent and enables you to bring up your children the way you want without much interference. You may feel fulfillment in achieving your aspirations and in creating your self-identity but can this replace the joint family? Definitely not! A baby sitter can never fill in for the childs grandparent. What you gain living as a joint family can never be replaced with financial gains.

Disadvantage of Nuclear family?

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Well a nuclear and opposed to the extended family is a relatively new social norm. Given that people are more likely to migrate in their lifetimes than ever before we now have smaller and more dispersed families. This causes the breakdown of the traditional ties that bound and supported families through out the ages. A nuclear family is a family on to it's self. A small compact unit that does not offer much support to the parents. With out the involvement of the grandparents and other family members outside of the "Mom, Dad, Kids" element many families fall on to hard times. Stress, money etc. Humans by nature are a social creature. To reach our fullest potential we must keep the family intact. An extended family situation is better than a nuclear family, but a nuclear family is far better than a single parent household. In conclusion the stresses created by situation all parental responsibility on one man and one woman can cause many problems that we see are prevalent in today's society. Extended families give greater flexibility and a larger support network for all involved.

Nuclear family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children.
[1]

This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families

typically center on a married couple, but not always;[2] the nuclear family may have any number of children. There are differences in definition among observers; some definitions allow only biological children that are fullblood siblings,[3]while others allow for a stepparent and any mix of dependent children including stepchildren and adopted children.[4] Alternate definitions have included family units headed by same-sex parents,[2] and perhaps additional adult relatives who take on a cohabiting parental role.[5] The concept of the nuclear family was first mentioned in Western Europe in the 17th century. With the emergence of proto-industrialization and early capitalism, the nuclear family became a financially viable social unit.[6] The concept that a narrowly defined nuclear family is central to stability in modern society has been promoted by modern social conservatives in the United States, and has been challenged as historically and sociologically inadequate to describe the complexity of actual family relations.[7]

Contents
[hide]

1 Usage of the term 2 Compared to extended family 3 Changes to family formation 4 American conservatism 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit]Usage

of the term

An American nuclear family composed of the mother, father, and children circa 1955

Merriam-Webster dates the term back to 1947,[1] whilst the Oxford English Dictionary has a reference to the term from 1924; thus it is relatively new, although nuclear family structures themselves date back thousands of years.[8][9] The term nuclear is used in its general meaning referring to a central entity or "nucleus" around which others collect. In its most common usage, the term nuclear family refers to a household consisting of a father, a mother and their children[10] all in one household dwelling.[1] George Murdock, an early and influential observer of families, describes the term in this way: The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. It contains adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults.[11] Many individuals are part of two nuclear families in their lives: the family of origin in which they are offspring, and the family of procreation in which they are a parent.[12]

[edit]Compared

to extended family

Main article: Extended family An extended family group consists of non-nuclear (or "non-immediate") family members considered together with nuclear (or "immediate") family members.

[edit]Changes

to family formation

The popularity of the concept of the nuclear family in the West, as opposed to the traditional extended family living together, came about in the early 20th century, prompted in part by increased wages earned by the working class. This enabled more and more families to be economically independent, and thus to own their own home.[citation needed]

Family arrangements in the US have become more diverse with no particular households arrangement being prevalent enough to be identified as the average; however, 70% of children in the US live in traditional two-parent families.[13]

Current information from United States Census Bureau shows that 70% of children in the US live in traditional two-parent families, with 66% of those living with parents who are married, and 60% living with their biological

parents, and that "the figures suggest that the tumultuous shifts in family structure since the late 1960s have leveled off since 1990."[14] If considered separate from couples without children, single-parent families, or unmarried couples with children, in the United States traditional nuclear families appear to constitute a minority of households with rising prevalence of other family arrangements. As of 2000, nuclear families with the original biological parents constituted roughly 24.1% of American households, compared to 40.3% in 1970.[13] Roughly two-thirds of all children in the United States will spend at least some time in a single-parent household.[15] In the UK, the number of nuclear families fell from 39% of all households in 1968 to 28% in 1992. The decrease accompanied an equal increase in the number of single-parent households and the number of adults living alone.[16] According to some sociologists, "[The nuclear family] no longer seems adequate to cover the wide diversity of household arrangements we see today." (Edwards 1991; Stacey 1996). A new term has been introduced, postmodern family, which is meant to describe the great variability in family forms, including singleparent families and child-free couples."[13] According to Professor Wolfgang Haak of Adelaide University, the nuclear family is natural to Homo sapiens. A 2005 archeological dig in Elau, Germany, analyzed by Haak, revealed genetic evidence suggesting that the 13 individuals found in a grave were closely related. Haak said, "By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe."[17] However, even here the evidence suggests that the nuclear family was embedded with an extended family. The remains of three children (probably siblings based on DNA evidence) were found buried with a woman who was not their mother but may have been an "aunt or a stepmother."[18]

[edit]American

conservatism