17. The Indian Joint Family In Modern Industry

Abstract

This chapter attempts to trace the implications of some recent studies of the relationship of the Indian joint family to urbanization and industrialization, including a preliminary study of the author own in Madras City. The Indian joint family is usually characterized in terms of these components as follows: it is patrilineal in descent, patrilocal in residence, patriarchical in authority, and has an inheritance rule that divides family property equally among adult males lineally related within at least four generations. Despite the intention of each to formulate a general theory of social change, neither Murdock nor Levi-Strauss deals with the kinds of changes in a social system brought about by industrialization, or even by urbanization. An application of the genealogical method to a study of the relations of the Indian joint family to developing industrialization would be easily understood in India. The separation of work and residence that comes with modern industry and urban life is more than a physical separation.

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