Industrialisation got under way in India in the last quarter of the nineteenth and first half of the
twentieth century. Cities grew around the new industries. Before industrialisation, we had (i) agrarian
non-monetised economy, (ii) a level of technology where the domestic unit was also the unit of
economic exchange, (iii) a non-differentiation of occupations between father and son and between
brothers and brothers, and (iv) a value system where authority of the elders and the sanctity of
tradition were both supported as against the criterion of ‘rationality’. But industrialisation has brought
about economic and socio-cultural changes in our society. In the economic field, it has resulted in
specialisation in work, occupational mobility, monetisation of economy, and a breakdown of link
between kinship and occupational structures; in the social field, it has resulted in the migration of
people from rural to urban areas, spread of education, and a strong centralised political structure; in
the cultural field, it has brought secularisation of beliefs.
There have been three important effects of industrialisation on family organisation: First, family
which was a principal unit of production has been transformed into a consumption unit. Instead of
all family members working together in an integrated economic enterprise, a few male members go
out of the home to earn the family’s living. This has affected not only the traditional structure of the
joint family but also the relations among its members. Secondly, factory employment has freed young
adults from direct dependence upon their families. As their wages have made them financially
independent, the authority of the head of the household has weakened further. In the city, in many
cases, along with men, their wives also have started working and earning. This has affected intrafamily relations to some extent. Finally, children have ceased to be economic assets and have become
liabilities. Although in a few cases, the use and abuse of child labour has also increased, law does not
permit children to work. At the same time, educational requirements have increased, lengthening
dependence upon parental support. Accommodation in the cities is expensive and child-care is
demanding. Thus, work and home have become separated due to industrialisation.
Some sociologists have, however, recently challenged the theory of emergence of nuclear families
due to industrialisation. This challenge is based on the results of empirical studies and the
documentation of the variety of family systems in different parts of the world. Studies by scholars like
M.S.A Rao, M.S. Gore, and Milton Singer have shown that jointness is more preferred and prevalent
in business communities, and many nuclear families maintain widespread kin ties. Several recent
researchers in the industrialised West have also emphasised the supportive role of kin and their
function of acting as a buffer between the family and the impersonal wider world (Abbi, 1970). Social
historians too have shown that the nuclear family was prevalent as a cultural norm in Europe and the
United States even before industrialisation. However, it has to be noted that the supportive role of the
kin does not have the compulsory character which is found in the family obligations of the Indian
nuclear family. The youngsters in the nuclear family still willingly follow the normal responsibility
towards the primary kin (such as parents and siblings), solidarity of the close kin, and some sense of
unity of the family, even though living in separate households.
All these changes have modified our family system. While the population movement from the rural
to the urban areas has led to decline in authoritarian power, growth of secularism has developed a
value system which emphasises individual initiative and responsibility. Individual now functions
without any restrictive familial controls. Formerly, when man worked in the family and all family
members helped him in his work, there was more intimacy among the family members but now
since he works in the industry away from the family, the intimacy in relations has been adversely
affected. The effect of industrialisation on the pattern of family relationship is also evident from the
decline in self-sufficiency of the family, and attitudinal changes toward family. Industrialisation
has, thus, contributed markedly to the creation of a new social and psychological setting in which
the survival of the early joint family with its authoritarian organisation has become very difficult.
The social profile of communities under the impact of industrialisation is indicative of many
dimensions of linkages and interactions among segments of region, culture, social categories and
communities. It is reflected in migration of people from one region to another which has contributed
to increase of bilingualism. The Census of India, 1991 placed bilinguilism to about 15 per cent, which
in reality has been estimated to be as high as 60 per cent in survey of communities. Interaction and
commonality among cultural regions too is reflected in shared cultural traits, which is also true for
large number of communities across regions and territories. Such cultural traits belong not only to
rituals and institutional practices but also to technologies of occupation, skills and division of labour.
Most communities have also moved away from their traditional occupations and show keen awareness
of developmental programmes sponsored by the government. This awareness, together with high
aspirations, introduces in the social system a measure of tension and conflict now manifest in various
dimensions of our social life.