Nuclear Family Vs. Joint Family

Family is probably the most important faction of the society and also the most powerful social institution. There are several definitions and from the viewpoint of sociology, 'a social unit or institution of member's living together' is understood to be an apt definition. The meaning of family is moreover a connotation than a definition. The importance of family is highly pronounced as it is a building block of the society and apart from being a social faction and institution, having a family is one of the most important necessities of every human being. Civilizations such as Roman, Vedic, Babylonian and Greek, had highly sophisticated and evolved societies due to the powerful institution of families. Indeed if we look back in time at the society prevalent then, we always find that the institution of family had been highly sophisticated and powerful. In today's world, there are two predominant classifications of families, one, a nuclear family and joint family.

General Definitions

Nuclear Family In modern times, a nuclear family is simply defined to be a social unit with a mother, father and children and a pet being the key constituents. The nuclear family, as defined above, has certain subsets, such as live-in relations, dating individuals, individuals living alone, or living with their pets. Nuclear family is principally based upon the emotion of parental love and sibling bonding and hence the structural functionalism (mechanism of relationships) is quite simple, yet the psychology involved becomes quite complex.

Joint Family The institute of joint family, constitutes all first-blood relatives living under the same roof. This includes all first cousins and their respective hierarchical generations. There are some subsets to the joint family such as an extended family (second cousins under one roof), nuclear family living with grandparents of the youngest generation. Polygamy and polyandry which is practiced in some parts of the world is also a joint family. In case of a joint family, the primary emotion is a general affectionate bond between two generations and within the members of the generations.

Existence in the Modern Era

The society, adapts and changes as per the need of time. The concept of nuclear family started becoming quite common, post the industrial revolution. The European society adopted the concept widely in the post industrial revolution era, and years prior to the world wars. The concept became quite popular in the United States as the area of the States started expanding and a need to extend the civilization was felt. Several intellectual revolutions, beliefs and cultures and subcultures supported this phenomenon in Europe and the Americas. Liberty, financial freedom, equality and rational progressive thoughts such as feminism and freedom from social strata and hierarchy further pushed the popularity of nuclear families. As of today, same-sex marriages and live-in or open relationships are other factors that contribute to such popularity. Nuclear families began to appear and started spreading rather quickly in the years surrounding the cold war, in all the Afro-Asian nations, especially former European colonies. The basic factor that promoted such a popularity was the modernization and development of these nations which took place at that time.

Joint family on the other hand has been an important faction of the society since the genesis of mankind. Tribes, small villages, communities and such small civilization units are the ancestors of the joint families. Joint families are still common in several parts of the worlds, India, China, African nations and even Arab nations having a large number of such families. This write-up is of special significance to me as I was brought up in a joint family. The one big argument that is presented in favor of joint families is that it is the oldest and also the most successful social institution, following marriage.

Nuclear Family Vs. Joint Family: A Comparison

There are a significant number of arguments that have been put forth and countered with respect to this subject. There are several types of pros and cons of nuclear and joint facilities that cover psychological, sociological, emotional and even certain economic pros and cons. One crucial, psychological and sociological advantage of a joint family is that the human interaction and bonding between all family members proves to be a great base for an individual's growth. A person's constitution, mind, thought process and ethics get well-shaped in such a situation. The person grows in a background which is usually free from any parent-offspring conflict due to the presence of several grown-ups mentoring a growing mind. It puts to rest any drawbacks experienced due to the presence of a single parent. Interpreting the theories of Sigmund Freud, the older generations simply act as, ideal parents to the young and growing generations. Collectively an entire young generation becomes well-groomed and free from fault, promising and truth assuring. This perception is largely based upon the parental love showered by the older generation as the aunts and uncles, and grandparents, who tend to prove as quasi-parents in absence of parents. They are also instrumental in correcting any parenting fault that the actual parent depicts. Sounds very harsh but at the same time, true. Since there are so many people to look up to and learn from, growing children become ethically strong, mature, with a powerful conscience. A joint family is a great place to get educated and pick up excellent habits, provided that there are no people with bad habits as the aforementioned logic also applies for bad habits. A joint family also provides excellent human company, and things such as materialism, negative psychology, sadistic thoughts, dearth of acceptance by another human being are simply absent. In such a case the human being becomes emotionally and morally fulfilled, and in very straight words there are no regrets about one's youth or childhood in one's mind. Sociologically speaking, every member of a joint family stands out as an important sociological and psychological instrument in a person's life. A similar logic however can be applied in a nuclear family. In cases where the family is made up of 4-6 members, the emotional fulfillment and security becomes equally comforting and apt for our well-being. However, such an environment, is equally dangerous especially if it is a nuclear family as the kids can turn into complete brats, or in the case of a joint family, the feeling of being well comforted can be dangerous as it can kill people's will to fight for goals.

The key in both cases is to manage the level of comfort that an individual has, may it be in a joint family or a nuclear family. A preserved culture, excellent health in all family members, love for education and religion and an understanding and supportive joint family helps us to find joy and helps us to help others find joy, forget about all the technical terms mentioned above. In a joint family, you are surrounded by people who love you and people who care about you, simply put you are happy. Man's intelligence has a habit of playing the thorn every time something good turns up. It is difficult to keep faith in some values, especially if you live in a rigid joint family, where acceptance of change is relatively less. To keep faith in modern and right values you need a nuclear family. One great thing about the nuclear family is that the transition from orthodox to modern is simple, which in case of a joint family is very difficult, though it is crucial. In a joint family which holds very, very strong cultural bonds and religious faith, transition to unorthodox is almost impossible. Inversely, you will notice that a joint family which is highly educated and reasonably liberal by thought, is a successful unit. Of course a nuclear family always tends to be more successful in adapting to the unorthodox and modern values and things, owing to the fact that there are simply less minds and less generations that are to undergo a transition. On the whole, one of the biggest drawback of the joint family is that you lose a significant amount of your freedom and you are forced to sacrifice a lot, for your family. Tuning yourself with the society's ways, always becomes difficult in such a case. Curb of freedom and the probability that a close relative may hurt you, prompts people to start nuclear families, inevitable and justified. Lastly, it can be arithmetically proven that a joint family is a better economic unit as compared to the nuclear family, the principle logic being that one joint family, consumes lesser resources due to the philosophy of joint-living. In conclusion it can be said that living in a joint family is tough, but worth the trouble. A nuclear family on the other hand is easier to live in, yet there is no food for emotions and we tend to become apes living in houses with TV's and cars.

Man being a social animal, needs appropriate society around him. The aforementioned arguments are quite short and also tend to provide some specific details. There are several more thoughts to consider, which I would like to leave it up to you. In short both types of families tend to have an equal number of drawbacks and merits. Due to this, both the systems are required in the society.