A Note on the Joint Family

Samenvatting

In the 1950's & 1960's many social scientists, convinced that the joint family was incompatible with the norms of the industrial society & that it certainly hindered SE growth, were predicting its decline. Although the joint family underwent structural changes & much adaptation, it persisted in coping with challenges from the technoeconomic environment. An attempt is made to first look at the joint family on its own terms before delving into its positive & negative aspects. If the conjugal family of the West is the result of long standing traditions of nuclearity, freedom, & self-reliance, then the joint family is rooted in the Indian ideals of jointness & communality. The culture of togetherness is different from the culture of individualism of the West. Both systems have disadvantages which are conveniently ignored by many comparative studies whose cross-cultural pretensions prove to be groundless. As yet, there is no answer to the question of which is the better or more desirable system. Modified HA.