5.1. Family and kinship

Urbanization affects not only the family structure but also intra and inter-family relations, as well as the functions the family performs. With urbanization, there is a disruption of the bonds of community and the migrant faces the problem to replace old relationships with new ones and to find a satisfactory means of continuing relationship with those left behind.

I.P. Desai (1964) showed that though the structure of urban family is changing, the spirit of individualism is not growing in the families. He found that 74 percent families were residentially nuclear but functionally and in property joint, and 21 percent were joint in residence and functioning as well as in property and 5 percent families were nuclear.

Aileen Ross (1962) in her study of 157 Hindu families belonging to middle and upper classes in Bangalore found that

♤ about 60 percent of the families are nuclear

♤ the trend today is towards a break with the traditional joint family form into the nuclear family form into the nuclear family unit.

♤ Small joint family is now the most typical form of family life in urban India.

♤ Relations with one’s distant kin are weakening or breaking.