Joint family

Definition:

The traditional Hindu joint family is patrilineal* patrilocal, patriarchal and patronymic extended family. According to Brashaspati , one of the Dharmasatra writes, speaks of the “Hindu joint family ‘’as an association the members of which share a common kitchen. It includes the living members and the past members. The home belongs to the ancestors (pitras) in the interest of offspring ( putras), the future members of the family. All the property enjoyed by the members of the family, belong to the house and not to any particular member of the family. Thus the house which is represented by the Hindu joint family consists of continuity of all the members of the family -past members that are no more, present members that are parts of his family living and future members that are going lo come into living. The joint family consists of a common kitchen , common property, common God, common meal and common house”

Distribution of Joint family in India:

It occurs in rural as well as in urban areas; it occurs almost in all occupational groups. Oscar Lewis said that 75% of the households in agricultural castes are joint and 35% of households in non-agricultural castes are joint. Joint family system Is stronger in North India than in South India. David. G. Mandelbeum after a thorough survey of existing researches concluded that more than 40% of the families in North India are joint. The system is stronger in Indo-Gangetic plains.
According to K.M.Kapadia. “a traditional Joint family means the family of which the constituent members are lineal descendants as well as coleatarals within three and at times even four degrees of relationship In that all more members are coparceners and females having rights of maintenance. It was a fraternal of patrilineal extended family .

Irawati Karve says “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof who eat food cooked one hearth, who hold worship and are related to each other as some particular type of Kindred” .

Types of Joint family

S.C.Dube ( 1959) presents the following types of joint families in India. According to him “joint family”,

• It may mean a three or four generation extended family in which all members live together.
• it may also signify sizeable part of such an extended family living together, and other parts living separately as independent households.
• it can also mean a joint living together of several families all sharing legal ownership of ancestral property but each having separate hearth and separate management of their share of the still legally undivided property.
• It may mean the separate living of lineally related families, who are joint owners of
  ancestral property in legal terms.

Pauline Kolenda presents the following types of joint families in India.

• (i) “Collateral joint family; It comprise two or more married couples between whom there is sibling bond. In this type , usually a brother and his wife and another brother and his wife live together with their unmarried children.
• (ii) Supplemental Collateral joint family: it is a collateral joint family along with unmarried, divorced or widowed relatives. The supplemented relatives are generally the widowed mother of the married brothers or widowed father, or unmarried siblings
• (iii) Lineal joint family: Two couples + married son or sometimes between a parent and his married daughter, living together.
• (iv) Supplemental lineal family: It is a lineal joint family together with unmarried , divorced or widowed relatives who do not belong to cither of the lineally linked nuclear families; for example for example windowed brother, or the sons wife divorced sister or unmarried brother or an unmarried sister.
• (v) Lineal collateral joint family: In this type, three or more couples are linked with lineally and collaterally. For instance a family consisting of parents and their two or more married sons together with their unmarried children of the couples.
• (vi) Supplemental Lineal Collateral joint family: This family forms when a lineal collateral joint family plus unmarried, widowed, separated relatives who belong to one of the nuclear families, for example, the father’s widowed sister or brother or an unmarried nephew of the father.

K.M.Kapadia (1959:74) classified joint families into:

• (i) Lineal joint family:
• (ii) Collateral’ family

I.P.Desai (1964) classified the joint families into the following four types:

• ( i) Functionally joint family: Family which is residentially nuclear but joint with other households by way of fulfillment of mutual obligations.
• (ii) Functionally and substantive joint family: Family which is residentially nuclear but joint in term of property, functioning or fulfilling mutual obligation.
• (in) Marginally joint family: The family which is joint in residence, property and functions but consists of two generations
• (iv) Traditional joint family: The family which likes tile marginal joint family, so joint in residence, property of functions consists of three or more generations.

Advantages of Joint family:

• (i) Protection against distress and unemployment.
• (ii) Common security, it saves property from fragmentation and it leads to economy of expenditure.
• (ii Common responsibilities i.e., a sense of duty inspires them to give a helping hand to any person.
• (iv) Old age benefits i.e., a member is insured right from his birth till his death. Widows, orphans and the aged are well cared for within a joint family.
• (v) Tolerance and mutual cooperation. Joint family removes interests of selfishness. It promotes mutual help or dependence socialization.
• (vi) Joint family preserves the good traditions of common spirit, dependence, socialization, good advice and ideal living.-

Disadvanlages of Joint family:

• (i) Dependence on limited number of members: The whole financial responsibility rests on a few members.
• (ii) Hindrance to social mobility: Because of kinship lies and security, people do not move to other places.
• (iii) Sloth and Laziness: All are provided equally irrespective of their incomes. The really talented one does not get a chance to develop his skills.
• (iv) Jealousy and quarrel: these are quite common. Emotions and interests dash among the members of joint family. Perpetual stale of conflict is common.
• (v) Miserable state of women: there is harassment by mother-in-law and women are treated as child producing machines.
• (vi) Child marriages: In joint families marriages are arranged very early.

Characters ofjoint family:

• (i) Large size (Kopadia 1255; l.P.Dcsni 1964; Madan 1961; Driver (1962) Parents+ children+ grand children + other men relatives along with other women (Kolenda 1968: Dube 1960)
• ( ii ) Common residence: Live under the same roof
• (iii) Common kitchen: It is a community that eats together; It is the hearth group; members cook and eat food from the same kitchen ( Karve 1960 ).
• (iv) Joint property: Joint membership or cooperation is the essence of jointness. irrespective of residence or community. In legal tense it is the most crucial fact used for defining a Joint family ( F.G.Bailey ( I 960), Madan ( 1962), Desai (1956))-
• ( v) Cooperation and sentiment: It serves as one unit. A functional joint family emphasizes fulfillment of obligation towards kin. A joint family may consist of a number of households headed by male relatives through the father. They may even have property in common. But what is common is that they identify themselves as members of a particular family cooperate in rituals and exchange financial and other kinds of help; and they cherish a common family sentiment to abide to the norm of joint living ( Desai 1964; Kapadia 1962).
• (vi) Authority Structure: The power Is rested in Karta, the eldest male member in the family. He allows little individual freedom to the family members. He controls the family members.
• (vii ) Formalistic organization: This refers to the subordination of individual interest to the interest of the family as a whole, which means that die coal of the family must be the goals of the individual members.
• ( viii) Ritual bonds: The ritual bonds of a joint family are considered lo be an important component of jointness. A joint family is bound together by periodic performance and the rituals in honour dual ancestors. The members perform “Shraddha” ceremony in which the senior male member of the joint family propitiates his dead father’s or mother spirit offering it the pindas (balls of cooked rice) on behalf of all the members. Another ritual bond among joint family member is the common deity worship (Srinivas 1969:71 ). Still another important bond is pollutions. Birth or death results in pollution of the members of the joint family. The bonds created by ancestor worship, family deities and observation of pollution persist even after the joint family has split into separate or smaller residential and communal units. (Srinivas 1969:21 )

Factors and Forces Affecting Joint Family

Different forces: like legislation, industrialization and urbanization , are affecting the joint family. These forces or factors include internal ones as well ns external ones. The internal ones Include quarrels, partialities, laziness and so on. The external factors include industrialization, urbanization and soon .

Infernal forces affecting Joint family
The following forces have always, over the centuries, subjected the joint families to changes and disintegration:

(a) Quarrels among the brothers or between father and sons over property matters.
(b) Quarrels among women, mostly between the wives of younger and elder brothers and between mother-in-law and daughters-in -law;
(c) Intense conjugal bonds or love between one of the brothers and his wife.

The above forces have always resulted in break up of joint families and we have many number of such instances mentioned in our tales and folklore. In addition , birth, death, etc., have always lead to additions and deletions of these groups. Sometimes when the head of the family dies, the brothers or the successors may decide to separate. Therefore, We should keep in mind that centrifugal forces have always operated on the joint families.

External forces affecting Joint family:

(i) Legislation: The HJF underwent a number of changes beginning from the British rule. In fact, generally all over the world, where agricultural societies are changing towards industrial societies, the joint family system is bound to come under severe pressure. During the 150 years of British rule, when the forces of modernization took shape in India, the joint family system was bound to undergo some changes. We shall first discuss the effect that some legislation had on the HJF right from the British rule till dale.
a) Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850 & Special Marriage Act,1872: This Act legislated . all inter-caste marriages among Hindus and also provided that the persons so marrying should not be deprived of their rights in family property on the ground of having married outside caste. The HJF, as one can expect, will survive and prosper only if all the girls who come into the family as daughters-in-law are from the same caste. A daughter-in-law from a different caste in somewhat incompatible with the some functioning of the joint family, especially in the kitchen.
b) The Hindu Gains of Learning Act, 1930: This Act enabled the members of the members of the HJF to keep the earnings or monetary gains or any other gains,
which-could be converted into cash, to themselves as long as these earnings or gains were as a result of their own efforts of earning. For example, a lawyer or a
doctor, who earn money through his professional skills, need not part with the earnings to the common fund. Naturally, this Act contributed to great independence of the members and weakening of the joint family system. In fact, this Act brought about tensions amongst the brothers with different earnings
capacities.
c) The Hindu Succession Act 1956: Of all the legislations, the Hindu Succession Act passed after independence, severely affected the joint family system. In
the traditional system, women were denied property rights, The Hindu Succession Act, in one stroke, not only gave equal property rights to women but also conferred equal properly rights on all male co-parceners from the Act, and son irrespective of his age can demand his share and on his behalf even his widowed mother can demand. Therefore, quite predictably, the Hindu Succession Act encouraged divisive tendencies arid made the process of separation easier. Moreover, as long as the property was held in common, the members would have an incentive in staying together. Once that is a not so, member may not find it profitable to stay together.
d) A number of Welfare legislation like Maternity Benefit Act, Employees State Insurance Act, Provident Funds Act, Gratuity Act, etc., have been passed after
independence, giving workers particularly in the organized sector, an adequate provision for old age security and for meeting expenses for marriage, education,
etc., of their children. These Acts, Taken together, reduce the dependence to some extent of a worker on his extended family and joint family members. The point is earlier, one had to bank only on the joint family members for meeting social expenses; but now alternatives are available in the form of employers, banks and social security legislation. ‘ –
(iii) Industrialization: The phase of Industrialization has picked up enormously in the past five decades specially after the Five Year Plans were introduced. It is generally seen that joint family system finds it difficult to survive in an industrial setup.
Firstly, industrial society requires a great degree of mobility. People have to go in search of jobs and once they get into jobs, they have to be prepared for transfers and relocation. A small family or nuclear family is more flexible to adapt itself to industrial society rather than a joint family. Due to industrialization, the adult male members may get scattered or dispersed and their contacts with other family members, may lessen.
Secondly, industrialization by a system of wage payment in the form of money, may encourage independence of the members of a joint family. Members may find it difficult to part with their hard earned salaries and would like to save it for themselves and their children. Also, difference in salaries and earnings amongst the brothers may cause further tension.
Thirdly, a man’s recruitment, and progress in industry is independent of his family position. Therefore, a worker may feel that his position is based more on his own achievement and skills than on his birth. He does not have to fear the risk of being independent unlike in agricultural societies where land is held in common and, in one’s own interest, the youngsters had to obey the elders. Ail these factors lend to weaken the control of the elders in the joint family.

iv) Urbanization: Urbanization has also effeced the fortunes of joint family system along with industrialization.
firstly, in urbanization, employment of women is very common and an employed woman will not subject herself easily to the control of the mother in law. Working women and joint families generally do not go together.
Secondly, In cities, it is not economical for 10-15 people to stay together under one roof.
Thirdly, in the cities there are many institutions and services which carry out many functions, earlier carried out by the joint families. Educational institutions, places of entertainment like cinema halls, T.V, etc., lake away many traditional functions of the joint family. Of course, it is true that even on the nuclear families, these forces have an impact.
Fourthly, industrialization and urbanization tend Lo encourage individuality as cultural value and persons born and brought up in the city and exposed to its cultures may not like to subject themselves to the control of elders in ell matters.
So, taking together- urbanization and industrialization tend to erode the basis of the joint family system which is based to a great extent on the control of the elders.

It is difficult to make a sweeping statement that the joint family has disintegrated altogether. A few prominent sociologists like I.P. Desai, M.S. Gore Prof. M.N. Srinivas, Ross, Kapadia, etc., have viewed that joint family system adapts itself to the forces of modernization and in the process undergoes some change in form. The traditional HJF has adopted itself to modem changes in the following ways.

• (a) In urban centers, because of high rentals, it is not common tor all members of middle class Hindu families to slay together under one roof with some minor sacrifices so as to effect some savings. For examples, a married son of an officer in the government may not be averse to the idea of staying with his parents even after marriage at least for a few years, so that he can save something. When an opportune tome comes, and with some assistance form banks/housing Financial agencies, he may either buy a flat or construct a small house, in any case amongst the upper class and rich Hindus, it is always advantageous to stay together like amongst the Marwaris or the Shettys/ Chettiars in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In these trading and entrepreneur there is a tradition of joint family system which has not shown any sign of weakening.
• (b) Again, in urban centers, a working couple may prefer lo have elders at home so that they can take care of their young children
• (c) It is also not uncommon for brothers to get together and share expenses of professional/technical education of one of the young family members or contribute their might to the marriage expenses of say, brother’s daughter or sisters.. It is in this sense of shared obligations in the form of – financial assistance, getting together on important family rituals/festival occasions, mutual visits that the traditional Hindu joint families still survive as something that is cherished, it is not necessary that they should be joined in the physical of staying under the same roof.
• (d) Even when married brothers slay together with their father, they may agree to have some sort of mini kitchen arrangement or thc elders may compromise, especially amongst vegetarian castes.
• (e) Several researchers have noticed that in urban centers, some form of a quasi-joint family based on the father-son relationship is emerging to which they have given the name of ‘filial type of joint families’ as contrasted with the fraternal type of joint families based on the relationship between male co-parceners.
• (f) It may also be mentioned here that in India, traditional and cultural values arc still very strong in the family sphere. For example, if the mother were to be rendered a widow, the sons take the responsibility or maintaining her, if not bring her some, even if it causes some tension. If there are several brothers, they evolve an arrangement of sharing the responsibility of maintaining and keeping her with them. It is also not common to keep an unmarried sister or an unemployed brother till such time they settle in Their life.

In conclusion, we can say that now in India the majority of the families are neither always exclusively nuclear nor always exclusively joint. The family is subject to additions and deletions in the form of birth, marriage, death, etc. Whether a family, at any given point of time, is nuclear or joint in India, amongst the Hindus, depends on several factors which are:

• i) Events like birth, death, marriages, etc.,
• ii) Economic factors like property, advantages and convenience of staying together.