Importance Of Joint Family Essay

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Family is usually defined as a basic unit of social structure.Family can never be defined exactly because it changes from time to time.The way a society looks at a family is never constant.India is the second most populous country with over 1.2 billion people and the most populous democracy in the world.India is a pluralistic,multilingual,and a multi-ethnic society.Family is the most important social institution in India and it has survived through ages.India is a collectivist society and it emphasizes on family loyalty,family unity and family integrity like most other less industrialised, traditional and eastern societies Since time immemorial, India had a joint family system. Due to rapid urbanization and changes in the society, one can see …show more content…

In a joint family system, there is a head of the family and every other family member must abide by the decisions he takes.Joint family system is appreciated because it encourages co-operation and discipline among the members of the family.In a joint family,all the members share a common property and common income. So,a member is bound to discuss his plans with other members of the family if he wants to do something on his own like investing or starting a new business as it is a joint property.This limits the person’s capability to do something new or to take risks as he has to make sure that other members of the family agree to it.Another problem with the joint family system is that there is that it limits the economic freedom of an …show more content…

The western influence demands for more freedom.In a joint family, most of the important decisions are taken by the elders of the family and the other members of the family hardly have a say in decisions which affect their life. The difficulty with the joint faily system is that the younger generation may want to do something which is right according to the current trends but the older generation may not approve of it.Hence,there is a dangerous possibility of not letting individuals decide for themselves.Earlier,the social scenario was different.There were inhuman practices like sati,child marriages and girls were always confined to the four corners of their house.There were a lot of changes over time and today’s scenario is entirely different.Today, girls are encouraged to pursue education,practices like child marriages,sati etc. are banned and there are many efforts being made to achieve gender equality.Due to all this,there is a change in the mindset of the people too.The kids want more freedom because of their exposure.A joint family system will not give them as much freedom as a nuclear family gives to the menbers of the

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