Change in the Family structure and Familial relation in India. Introduction Family structure is the way that a household or a family is set up. It is different for every family as families may have single parents, may have both parents or may have step parents involved. The family is a basic unit of society. The study of the change in the family structure in India is quite complex. With the increase in the urbanization and industrialization, the concept of the family in India, which once created and maintained a common culture among the members of the family, is undergoing change.
The family life or the family structure has remained the integral part of the Indian Society with the spirit of family solidarity. For generations, India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint family system. Usually the oldest male member of the family is the head of the joint Indian Family system. He is the one who makes all the important decisions of the family. After the urbanization and the economic development of the country, India has witnessed a break up of traditional joint family into more nuclear like family.
Cohen, Yebudi A, in his book “Shrinking Households”, he said that households have reputedly been shrinking in size for ten thousand years or more , right up to the present , and this is a result of an evolving technology that requires fewer co-operating people to secure food, rear children and look after them. The Objective of Study The specific objective of this study is to understand the change in family structure in India and its familial relationship.
