What is a family institution?

In simple terms, a family can be referred to as a group that is deliberately created or created by the
virtue of birth. It may be created to serve various purposes like for protection and security, sense of
belonging, controlled and disciplined behavior and even for mating purpose.

The word family is said to have been derived from the Roman word ‘famulus’ meaning servant and
from the Latin word ‘familia’ meaning household.

Therefore, the etymological meaning of the word family would be “The family is generally regarded a
locus of much of a person’s social activity. It is a social unit created by blood, marriage, or adoption,
for the purpose of support and mutual growth.

What purpose does a family serve?

To understand what the characteristics of the family as an institution are it is necessary to understand
its purpose, existence, and origin. The main function of the family is considered as the continuation of
the human race which is through giving birth and properly nurturing and caring for the child beside
this a family as helps fulfill sexual needs and also provide a sense of commitment and sexual fidelity.

Characteristics of the family institution can be divided into various general and specific characteristics
which may or may not be applicable to all families but are generally followed

The general characteristics of the family institution can be explained as follows:

Universality: the family has existed in every age and in every society, i.e. Every individual is or has
been a part of a family. It never happens that an individual never has a family as a family is a
necessity. It is necessary to understand that to a child born and abandoned the parents who abandon
him are his immediate family until he or she marries and makes his or her own family

Fixed habitation: in the daily life if an individual doesn’t have a home the life would be one of great
unrest as it would be haphazard in nature. A family has a specific place of habitation known as a home

and it provides a safe space to all the members of the family a so-called ‘haven’. It also provides
orderliness to human life.
and it provides a safe space to all the members of the family a so-called ‘haven’. It also provides
orderliness to human life.

Economic stability or financial provisions: Every family has some or the other kind of financial
provisions that help fulfill the needs of all the members of the family. This provision could be by
means of working and getting money in the house. For example, a father in a family is expected to be
the bread earner of the family and he has to go and work and earn money for the sustenance of the
family.

A sense of responsibility among members: the family is a very closely related group of people
where each individual has a responsibility towards other members of the family. The family provides
full security to all members including the young and the old. For example, when such responsibility is
ignored as in the case of abandoning of a child or an old mother or father it results in breaking up of
the family i.e. it disorganizes a family.

Emotional connection/support/basis: the integration bonds in a family are mutual affection and
blood ties. A family is a closed entity and is held together not only due to a tag but also due to
emotional ties. For example, a mother for the child may make great sacrifices which for someone else
she would abstain from doing, this happens due to the emotional connection between them.

A mating relationship: the basic existence of a family depends upon the mating relationship. A
family comes into existence when a man and a woman have a mating relationship. This relationship
also supports the institution of marriage. It also regulates the behaviors of various members of the
family like maintaining sexual fidelity or exclusivity.

A form of marriage/ supports the institution of marriage: a family pre-supposes the institution of
marriage. It is assumed that a mating relationship is established through the institution of marriage.

Therefore like every other institution even the family institution has various salient features which
make it very necessary and important in the human life and also help it perform its role.

Family institution Importance and Functions

The functions of a family institution itself tell us how much relevance it has to one’s life and how
important they are. The main function of the family is considered as the continuation of the human
race which is through giving birth and properly nurturing and caring for the child beside this a family
as helps fulfill sexual needs and also provide a sense of commitment and sexual fidelity to the partner
whom they’re married to.

The relationship between marriage institution and family institution and their interdependencies.

Both the institutions of marriage and family are very closely related as marriage is generally
considered a pre-requisite to having a family and having a mating relationship. Taking this into
consideration it is necessary to understand that since these institutions complement each other so do
their functions. Both institutions serve common functions of the creation of a mating relationship,
providing a habitation and procreating and raising children. That is both the marriage can be
considered as a link between the ‘family of orientation’ and the ‘family of procreation’ making
them very closely related.
The functions of the family institution can be bifurcated into various groups on the basis of
importance, implication, and usage.Out of these generally, the most prominently used bifurcation of
the functions is according to their importance so on the basis of this they are divided into

1. Essential functions
2. Non-essential functions

Essential functions:

1. Satisfaction of sex needs: proper satisfaction of sex needs brings about a desire for lifelong
partnership among males and females. This helps in increasing the stability of the family.
2. Production and rearing of a child: one of the most important and prominent functions of a
family is procreation and sustenance. Hence one of the main functions of the family is
reproduction and rearing of kids.
3. Provision of home and minimum basic facilities: it is the responsibility of the head of the
family to provide minimum basic facilities to the family. For example, food, shelter, clothing,
etc.
4. Giving love and sympathy: one of the basic functions of a family and its members is to
provide love and support to all the other members of the family. To be sympathetic in the
times of need and console each other in the times of grief.
5. Socialisation: the main function of a family is socialization. The family helps transit the
moral ideas of the group to the members of the family. This is done through language or
through action.

Non-essential functions:

1. Economic functions: family serves as an economic unit. The family also looks after family
property. The head of the family controls the property. He also looks after the needs of the
family members i.e. whatever a man earns is consumed by his family.
2. Religious functions: the family is the center for religious training of the children who learn
from their parents all about religious virtues. Various virtues like Idol worship and Pooja are
taught to a child. Also, knowledge about various religious scriptures is passed on to the
children. This function also helps them to become more of a part of the religious society and
appreciate religion and life.
3. Educative function: every newborn child is born into a family and hence the family becomes
the first school for him/her. It also provides him with basic knowledge about life, people,
behavior etc. which is like a base for him/her are they enter the world of education in schools
etc.
4. Social, cultural and recreational functions: the family that a person is born into decides
his/her social status and functions. A family exercises social control over the individual and
helps him abide by the social norms and morals it also helps him abstain from performing
various anti-social activities.

It also helps maintain one’s cultural background and help carry down one’s culture down to the future
generations. A family also provides recreation to the members of the family like having various get-
togethers and functions which are a form of recreation.
Nuclear Family

The individual nuclear family is a universal social phenomenon. It can be defined as a small group
composed of husband and wife and children that constitute a unit apart from the rest of the
community. The nuclear family is a characteristic of all the modern industrial societies in which a
high degree of structural and functional specialization exists.The nuclear family comprises a
cohabiting man and woman who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and have at least
one child. The traditional nuclear family is a nuclear family in which the wife works in the home
without pay while the husband works outside the home for money. This makes him the primary
provider and ultimate authority according to Popenoe.

According to Lowie it does not matter whether marital relations are permanent or temporary; whether
there is polygyny or polyandry the one fact stands out beyond all others that everywhere the husband,
wife and immature children constitute a unit apart from the remainder of the community.
T.B.Bottomore states that the universality of the nuclear family can be accounted for by the important
functions that it has been performing. The nuclear family has been performing the sexual, the
economic, the reproductive and the educational functions. The indispensability of these and few other
functions has contributed to its universality. A major factor in maintaining the nuclear family is
economic cooperation based upon the division of labor between the sexes. The structure of the nuclear
family is not same everywhere. Bottomore makes a distinction between two kinds of family system

Vogel and Bell have presented a functional explanation based on the intensive study of American
families with emotionally disturbed children. Often the tension and hostility of unresolved conflicts
between parents are projected onto the child. The child is thus used an emotional scapegoat by the
parents to release their tension. It serves as a personality stabilizing process for the parents and keeps
the family united but the child pays the cost of such unity.

What constitutes a joint family?

Joint Family is where the unilinear descent group lives together with their children in the same
homestead. It is a form of organization where generations of the same kul live in the same place
through the years.

The major factor that constitutes a joint family together is love & sense of belongingness to each
other. The advantage of having a joint family is on the higher side than its disadvantages. Some of its
advantages are Celebrating Festivals Together, Cooking & Eating together, protecting each other,
making children more ground rooted & many more.

On the other hand, its disadvantages are that some people become parasites that they don’t even earn
money & try to haugh upon the money of the family, increment in disputes, & trauma to mental
health. Now let’s take a dig at what are the factors responsible for the disintegration of joint families
nowadays.

What are the factors responsible for the disintegration of the joint family?
 1. Industrialization:
So far as rural economic system was concerned, the joint family was a unit of both production and
consumption. But with the arrival of industrial economy, the family no longer functions as a unit of
production. On the contrary, it has become essentially a unit of consumption.

Under such circumstances the maintenance of the joint family has been rendered extremely difficult.
Moreover, the establishment of factories and industries in the countryside has led to the closure of
small scale and cottage industries.

The workers are forced to migrate to the towns and cities in search of employment. This has resulted
in the disintegration of the joint family.

2. Urbanization:
Urbanization has also led to the weakening of the joint family system in India. The amenities of urban
life in the form of better transport and communication, better employment opportunities, better
educational facilities, and developed health care facilities attract the ruralites to the towns and cities.
Naturally there is a rural to urban type of migration.

Such exodus of rural population to urban centres has given rise to the problem of accommodation.
Further, by emphasising individuality and privacy urbanization encouraged the urbanites to opt for
small families.

In this way the urban living weakens joint family pattern and strengthens nuclear family patterns. The
studies conducted by Aileen Ross, M. S. Gore, Milton Singer subscribe to this fact.

3. Modern education:
The role of modern education in bringing about the disintegration of the joint family is no less
significant. Modern education inspires individualism among the people. Further, educated men and
women in the countryside are forced to leave their families in search of suitable jobs.

After getting jobs they finally settle in regions that are far away from their ancestral homes. There
ends the ‘common-roof arrangement’. They gradually severe the links with their natal families which
subsequently leads to breakdown in the joint family.

4. Enlightenment of women:
Enlightenment of women is also responsible for the disintegration of the joint family. The young
educated women, being fully conscious of their new rights and status in society, are now not prepared
to submit themselves meekly to their mothers-in-law.

The mothers-in-law with their traditional domineering attitudes fail to adjust themselves with the
educated women of younger generation. As a consequence, conflicts crop up and end in the
disintegration of the joint family.

5. Influence of western culture:

Western culture has fostered in young men and women individualistic tendencies with the result that
they do not want their fortunes to be tied down forever with those of the joint family. B.B. Saha
rightly observes that individualism as a gift of western culture has given rise to a separatist tendency
among them. Furthermore, influenced by the western values such as rationalism, equality, freedom
etc, they do
not like to remain submissive under the tight grip of the joint family. The end result is the
disintegration of the joint family system.

6. Over-Population:
In rural India, agriculture is the major occupation of the ruralites. Land being fixed, agriculture fails to
provide employment to the ever-increasing number of people depending upon it. Rapid growth of
population leads to an imbalance of man and land equation. People are forced to go to towns and
cities in search of employment. This has resulted in the disintegration of joint family.

7. Developed means of transport and communication:

In the past, there was hardly any appreciable development in the field of transport and
communication. Hence the level of mobility was low. But today as a result of developed means of
transport and communication, there is large-scale mobility. People move to different places in order to
avail better employment opportunities. This leads to the breaking up of joint families.
8. Change in marriage system:
Change in marriage system has its adverse impact on the continuance of the joint family system.
Factors like solemnization of marriage at the late age, restricted role of the head of the family in mate
selection, freedom enjoyed by young men and women in matrimonial affairs, perception of marriage
by most of the people as a social ceremony rather than a religious sacrament etc. have weakened joint
family ties.

9. Problem of accommodation:
The problem of accommodation has a lion’s share in the disintegration of the joint family system.
This problem is more pronounced in big cities and metropolis. Members of a joint family find it
extremely difficult to live together despite their desire and willingness to do so. Needless to state that
the problem of accommodation leads to loss of privacy and lack of adjustment and understanding
among the people, thereby making the healthy functioning of the joint family impossible.

10. Social legislation:

Legislation has had a devastating effect on the institution of joint family in India. The Hindu
Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937, which recognised the wife as the surviving personality of the
dead coparcener with all his rights in the property, has obviated the theory of survivorship as a
guiding principle of joint family property.

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 enabled women to seek divorce under specific circumstances.
Similarly, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 has brought about substantial changes in the Hindu joint
family structure by conferring equal rights on women in inheritance and also by totally obviating the
theory of survivorship. The recent legislation pertaining to ceilings on land has done incalculable
damage to the joint family system in India.

Further, with the enactment of legislation providing social security to people in times of crises such as
sickness, old age, delivery, death etc. the importance of joint family as a veritable agency of social
insurance has been relegated to the background. The government and the industrial management have
been seized with the responsibility of providing social security to the individuals.

Conclusion
It can be stated that the disintegration of joint family is at its peak due to industrialization &
civilization. As every coin has two sides, so does society. Some admire disintegration, while others
consider it a ban on society.

Love is that thread that can bind individuals for years, but if there is a shole or if any of its strings
draws, it becomes difficult for the people to survive through it. This is the same case with joint
families until & unless you are attached to each other with the thread of love, it is good, but as soon as
it breaks, it becomes a nightmare for the people. Therefore, it is essential to keep settling all disputes.