Syllabus: Paper I > Prehistoric Archaeology > Lower Palaeolithic > Oldowan and Acheulian traditions
Urbanization and Its Impact on Family in India — 2024 Paper I
Question · 2024 · Paper I · 15 Marks
Define urbanization and discuss its impact on family in India with examples.
Model Answer
VAID ICSIntroduction
Urbanization is the process by which an increasing proportion of people live in towns and cities, accompanied by changes in occupation, residence, technology, social relations and values.
According to Ralph Beals and Harry Hoijer, the family may be understood as a kin-based social group united through marriage, descent or adoption, generally involving common residence, economic cooperation and the care and socialization of children.
Major family forms include:
- Nuclear family: husband, wife and their unmarried children.
- Extended family: a nuclear family associated with additional relatives.
- Joint family: a special form of extended family marked by common residence, property, kitchen, authority, ritual obligations or economic cooperation.
Impact of Urbanization on the Indian Family
Residential nuclearization
Migration for education and employment, small urban houses, high living costs and occupational mobility favour nuclear households. For example, young professionals working in Bengaluru or Delhi may live separately from parents residing in their native towns.
However, A. M. Shah, in The Household Dimension of the Family in India (1973), distinguished the family from the household. Separate residence does not necessarily end joint-family obligations.
Modified joint family
M. S. Gore, in Urbanization and Family Change (1968), showed that urbanization modifies rather than simply destroys the joint family. Relatives living in separate households may continue to share:
- financial assistance;
- childcare and eldercare;
- property and business interests;
- marriage decisions and rituals;
- support during illness and crises.
Thus, a modified extended or joint family emerges.
Modernization of family traditions
Professor Yogendra Singh, in Modernization of Indian Tradition (1973), argued that modernization does not necessarily replace tradition; it transforms and reorganizes it. Urban families adopt education, technology, occupational mobility and individual choice while retaining kinship, caste and ritual obligations.
For instance, marriage partners may be found through digital platforms, but caste, class and parental approval often remain important.
Changes in authority
Independent income and separate residence weaken the absolute authority of the oldest male. Decision-making becomes increasingly conjugal, and younger members gain greater choice regarding occupation, consumption and marriage.
Changing gender relations
Women’s education and paid employment increase their role in household decisions. Dual-income families are increasingly visible in cities. Yet women commonly experience a double burden of employment and domestic work.
Marriage and kinship
Urban heterogeneity creates greater opportunities for delayed marriage, love marriage and inter-caste or inter-regional marriage. Nevertheless, caste endogamy remains resilient through family networks, caste associations and matrimonial platforms. Marriage has therefore not simply shifted from a sacrament to a contract; rather, sacramental, familial and individual elements now coexist.
Transfer of family functions
Education, healthcare, recreation, childcare and care of the elderly are increasingly provided by schools, hospitals, daycare centres and old-age institutions. The family becomes less economically self-sufficient but remains emotionally and socially important.
Children and the elderly
Smaller families may invest more resources in children’s education and health. Conversely, migration and nuclear residence may produce childcare difficulties, loneliness among elderly parents and dependence on paid care.
Critical Assessment
Urbanization does not affect all families uniformly. Middle-class professionals may prefer nuclear residence, whereas urban poor migrants depend heavily on relatives for housing, employment and childcare. Business communities may retain joint-family arrangements because common property and family labour support enterprise.
Sylvia Vatuk’s studies of urban North India similarly showed that the ideal of family jointness may survive even when members no longer share a household.
Conclusion
Urbanization has reduced household size, modified authority, expanded individual choice and changed gender and marital relations. Yet it has not eliminated the Indian joint family. Following Yogendra Singh, the urban family is best understood as a product of the modernization of tradition—combining nuclear residence and modern occupations with continuing emotional, economic and ritual ties to extended kin.
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