DISINTEGRATION OF JOINT FAMILY IN INDIA
Joint Family:
A group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, hold property in common, and are related to each other.
Influence of education:
The modern education system changes people's attitudes, beliefs, values, and ideologies and enables them to get into jobs. After getting jobs, they settled down in their place of work and made a procreation family there. As a result, their joint family in the village breaks down.
Impact of industrialization:
Setting up new industries has attracted many people to employment in the factories. Once the employment is available, the person leaves the joint family and settles down in a nuclear family near the industrial town. As a result, most of the ties that bind all family members together in an industrial society began to loosen.
Influence of urbanization:
The urban centres provide people with various amenities of life concerning transport and communication, sanitation and health, education and employment, etc. migration of young adults from rural to urban areas, or from small town to metropolis and also often their choice of the spouse from the other community add the reasons for the disintegration of families. The conjugal family ties are becoming more intense than they were in the past, and yet at the same time, they have become more fragile, giving rise to a greater incidence of separation and divorce in urban areas.
Change in marriage system:
Change in the marriage system has an adverse impact on the continuance of the joint family system. Factors like the solemnization of marriage at a late age, the restricted role of the head of the family in mate selection, the freedom enjoyed by young men and women in matrimonial affairs, and the perception of marriage by most people as a social ceremony rather than a religious sacrament, etc., have weakened joint family ties.
Legislative reasons:
The joint family system has received a great setback from several legislations. These legislations are:
The Hindu law of Inheritance, 1929
Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act, 1937
Special Marriage Act, 1954
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
The Hindu Succession Act, 1956
Dowry Restraint Act, 1961
These Acts have modified the inter-personal relations and the composition of a family and the stability of the joint family. This has affected the marriage system to a large extent.
Influence of western values:
Influenced by western values such as rationalism, equality, freedom, etc., they do not like to remain submissive under the tight grip of the joint family. The result is the disintegration of the joint family system.
Awareness among women:
Increasing female education and widened freedom and employment opportunities created awareness among women, particularly in the middle and upper class. They also sought chances of becoming “free” from the authoritarian hold of the join family.
Even though the times are not very favourable for the joint family system, it is not correct to say that it has outright been condemned or outlived its utility in our rural areas. It is still much in existence. If the days are unfavourable those are only in the urban areas.
