Critical Study on Modern Trend in Indian Society: With Emphasis to Nuclear and Joint Families

I. INTRODUCTION:

Among the earliest human groups, gathering was the main source of food. Gradually man acquired the skill and knowledge in agriculture. With the development of agriculture, people began to lead a settled life and human communities became more stationary. The emergence of village signified that man has passed from nomadic mode of collective life to the settled one. India is a land of villages. A great majority of villages are small with only around five hundred population each. Mahatma Gandhi‘s view that India lives in villages still holds well, at least from the demographic point of view. Urban contrasts with the rural. It refers to a process which envisages land settlement, agglomeration of diversities, complete transformation of economy from agricultural to industrial, commercial sectors and a wider politico-civic life dependent on institutions of modern living. The urban society is heterogeneous. It is known for its diversity and complexity. It is dominated by secondary relations. Urban society is far away from the nature and natural environment. Mass education is widespread in city. It is a ―Complex Multi-Group Society‖.

Indian society observation shows a new phenomenon or sign of a cyclical transition happening in the nuclear family shift that takes place within the nuclear family structure. Growing economic stress / no availability of paying household maids; rising women's jobs and many other everyday risks have called for a reform in the modern family structure. The role of grandparents is recognized in childcare. This has led by the addition of grandparents to alternative arrangements at the home. The practical criterion has taken the elders into the nuclear family and resulted in systemic transition. In order to meet the functional requirements, the nuclear families, particularly with working mothers, are able to accommodate the parents (either the husbands or wives) within the system. In present-day urban Indian society these family set-ups are becoming normal. The family has taken housewives into jobs with the changing social climate and the rising financial needs. Universal education policy has helped girls to complete school education and enter and graduate colleges. The educational achievement has kindled girls ' practical awareness and developed an urge within them to get into jobs so they can be self-supportive. They continue to work even after marriage, since their commitment to running the family is important. This aspect, that is, the employment of women, has brought about a significant change in functionality. There has been a change in the major division of labor in the family system which instructs men for work and women

want to keep their children in these centers because of different factors such as poor standard of care and food in the centers, non-availability of essentials and the extra financial strain that the family has to bear to pay for the centers. The family structure has not withered even more than all these things; there is still the common feeling of joints and emotional ties. In spite of its nuclear system, it maintains the links with family elders. The concept of second generation childcare centers is only partly embraced. They prefer to live in some sort of extended families and so seek support in childcare from the older generation. Nuclear families are often observed to seek support from the parents, permanently or temporarily. Once the wives are permanently working in good employment, persistent need arises. Often the son doesn't want to break from his parents (in the case of the first son or the last son or the widowed parents or the economical week son) and therefore the childcare burden falls on grandparents. There is one more situation when one of the partners in the nuclear family has to relocate because of work transfer to another location. In these cases the grandparents are also called upon to immediately take care of the grandchildren. This has adopted patrilocal living, becoming a patrilineal family structure. In this scenario the grandparents paternal have more authority over the grandchildren. They live with sons, and therefore offer their services to the families of their son. This is considered common procedure. Yet, the current kinship pattern tends toward bilateral relations. Maternal grandparents also have a good role to play in bringing up their daughter's children. Since it's easier for the girl to adjust with her own parents. The maternal grandparents live together in certain families or with one of them living with daughters. 66 per cent are paternal grandparents in the present study and 34 per cent are maternal grandparents. The study consisted of 80 grandmothers, and 20 grandfathers. The research indicates that the majority of children (44.35 percent) are in the age group below five years (23.48 percent) between the ages of 5 and 10 and (32.17 percent).are above 10 years. About eight per cent of grandparents are responsible for as many as four. The present investigation shows that in extended families 80 percent of respondents are in. Just 20 percent of grandparents live in their children's nuclear family. The research shows that, in addition to being active in childcare, almost 35 percent of grandparents work to make their living.

Grandparent-grandchild relationship is the one in which it is considered to be mutual in terms of love, custodial and cultural conservators. In India the relationship with grandchildren and grandparents is found to be totally protective, permissive, affectionate and tutorial. In the study the grandparents were asked to describe their relationship with their own grand kids. Nalini (2004) showed that they were warm and close (58 per cent) open and binding (32 per cent) and shared (10 per cent) time and interest. The grandparents both paternal and maternal are similarly nice and close to the grandchildren. More maternal grandparents have recorded sharing time and interest with their grandchildren. They went out for walks, read children's story books, watched T.V. and spoke openly and jested with them. There was more guidance in the case of paternal grand-parents relationship.

Grandchildren in Indian society love their grandparents for the care they shower on them. The grandparents fill in the gap that developed in the parent - child relationship due to the employment of both the parents, especially the mother. Children need mother/father to keep themselves engaged and learn new things in the world. They have to be socialized. This task had been taken up by the grandparents. The kind of socialization given by grandparents was different in its nature. They were not as active socialized.

The grandparents performed the role traditionally performed by the mothers i.e. bathing, dressing, playing, feeding, giving medicines, cultivating good behaviours in them, teaching moral values, help them in studies, and taking them to schools - according to the age level of children. Some of them even cooked special food for children.

Individuals cease playing those positions at old age. This role loss may be due to the death of a member of the kinship, retirement or resignation from associations. As a result, their role play is considerably reduced, and they tend to feel lonely and isolated. Yet in the Indian sense, one positive aspect is that after sixty years the retired men and women have some positions to play. They still have their roots in the family. Men tend to engage in household tasks that at the time of occupation they would usually have avoided. Women are also relatively free from strenuous household activities and responsibilities. So they happily agree to play the role of renting grandpa at this time. This role is multi-functional in its own way. It is a combination of certain roles. They are surrogate parent role, fun

The trend of change to nuclear family in India, has not affected the core of the institution. The obvious shifts in family composition reveal the fundamental attributes of a joint family. Especially in common worship and in accommodating the parents, very little change has taken place. The elderly parents find support and shelter in anyone of the son's (or at least a daughter's) home. The Women‘s job created a functional gap at home and that place has been readily filled in by the grandparents. The emotional care and safe atmosphere could be created by the grandparents at home itself. This kind of care is reciprocal - the sons accommodate elders within their home who reciprocate their love to elders for the service the render. The grandparents extend a warm care to the grandchildren because they consider it their duty and privilege. This role of grandpa renting has to be active and intelligent to suit the nature of the child. They should love like parents and simultaneously watchful so that no harm is done to their personality. The grandparents, by their presence provide peace of mind and trust in their children so that they perform their own health problems, the elders manage to care for the younger ones at a good level.

The family system is disorganizing in many industrialized societies which lead to many other social problems. Yet, in India, the situation is different. The social structure as such has not been disrupted by migration, women's jobs, new social institutions or modern culture. It's because of the family ties that remain. The role of a mother or father for a short while is substituted by the presence of grandparents. This kind of adjustment has served two purposes simultaneously. a) The problem of the care of the ageing population that threatens many societies is mellowed in India. b) At the same moment, the childcare, another essential familial responsibility is taken up by the elders. Further it can be opined that the kind of security the elders found within the family is stronger than formal social security schemes. The kind of care children enjoy from grandparents could not be substituted by any other formal childcare institutions. There have been several functional shifts within the society but the Indian family's exhibit modifications and adaptations that ensure similarity to joint family features. The changes in the economic system demanded various new adjustments but maintain good relationship within family. One significant aspect in the analysis was the equal bond to paternal and maternal kinship. The socializing function of the family has been sustained by the grandparents‘ inclusion in the absences of parents in the household in the daytime. self-asserting children. On the whole accommodating grandparents in families provides security not only for the elders but also for children.

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Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Sri Satya Sai University of Technology & Medical Sciences, Sehore, M.P.