Counselling the family

2. Family and Marriage
• Family: Definition, Changing
trends in family structure, Types
of families, Characteristics of
Indian families- family strength

3. MEANING OF FAMILY
• The word ‘family’ is derived from Latin
word ‘famulus’ which means a ‘servant’.
• In Roman law the word denotes a group of
producers and slaves and other servants as well
as members connected by a common descent or
marriage. Thus, originally, family consisted of a
man and woman with a child or children and
servants.

4. DEFINITIONS OF FAMILY
• “Family is a group defined by a sex relationship
sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for
procreation and upbringing of children”.
-Maclver And Page
• “Family is more or less durable association of
husband and wife with or without child, or of a
man or woman alone with children”.
- M.F.Nimkoff

5. • “Family is a group of persons united by ties marriages, blood or
adoption constituting a single household interacting and
intercommunicating with each other in their respective social roles of
husband and wife father and mother, son and daughter, brother and
sister, creating a common culture”. “Family is a biological social unit
composed of husband, wife and children”.
- Burgess and Locke
• “Family is a biological social unit composed of husband, wife and
children”.
- Eliot and Mervill

6. ELEMENTS OF FAMILY
a. The family is a basic, definite and enduring
people.
b. Family is formed by the relatively durable
companionship of husband and wife.
c. Family can be large in size in which persons
belonging to several generations may live together.
d. Family may be limited to husband, wife or only
the father and his children or only the mother and
her children.
e. Family procreates and helps in bringing up
children.

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN
FAMILIES
• According to Mark Ever and page the family
has certain features and they are as follows-
1. Universality
2. Emotional Basis
3. Limited size
4. Nuclear Position
5. Formative Influence
6. Responsibility of the Members
7. Social Regulation
8. Persistence and Change

8. 1. Universality:
• The Family is a universal institution. It was found
in many simpler societies. In advance societies,
the whole social structure is built of family units.
• “It is found in all societies, at all stages of social
development and exists far below the human
level among myriad species of animals”. Every
human being is a member of some family.
- Maclver,

9. 2. Emotional Basis
• Every family is based on human impulses of
mating, procreation, motherly devotion and
parental love and care.
• The members of a family have emotional
attachment with each other.
• Love between husband and wife, parents and
children makes the family an institution of self-
sacrifice. Hence, emotion is the foundation on
which every family is built.

10. 3. Limited Size
• The family is very small in size. It is known as the
smallest primary group.
• It is a small social institution. It includes husband
and wife and the persons who are born in it or
are adopted.
• The relations among the members of family are
direct, intimate, close, personal and permanent.
This is possible only due to small size of the
family. Further, smallness of the family brings
stability in the family.

11. 4. Nuclear Position
• With regard to all the different types of
groupings, the family plays an important role
in so far as it prepares the individual for
participation in all these secondary groups,
for their demands and situations.
• It serves as the nucleus for the growth of
other types of groupings which never deal
with the cultureless creatures that a newly
born child is.

12. 5. Formative Influence
• Family exerts most profound influence on its
members.
• The personality of the individual is moulded in
the family.
• The family customs, traditions, mores and
norms have great influence in shaping the
personality of its members during childhood.
• Family is the most effective agency of the
process of socialisation and social control.

13. 6. Responsibility of the Members
• The members of the family have a deep
sense of responsibility and obligation for the
family.
• Due to this sense of responsibility, the entire
members discharge their duties.
• All the members of the family have joint
responsibility.
• In family, the children learn about
responsibility and cooperation.

14. 7. Social Regulation
• Society, that is the collectivity, keep the
collective and wider view in mind, has to
ensure, by evolving mores and folkways, that
the individual member in a family do perform
all those functions towards each other on the
basis of which the wider network of social
relationships in dependent for its success.
• Thus, for example, there are social
restrictions on divorce, in almost every
society.

15. 8. Persistence and Change
• The family may be permanent and temporary by
nature.
• As an institution it is permanent. When a couple
after marriage settle in an independent
residence, the family continues to exist with other
member.
• Hence, family is permanent as an institution.
Family on the other hand is temporary and
transitional.
• Structure of the family changes over a time in
terms of size, composition and status of persons.

16. ROLE OF FAMILY
• 1. Identity to members
• 2. Agency for socialisation
• 3. Cherishment of values
• 4. Moulding the personality
• 5. Security
• 6. Fulfilment of Affiliation needs
• 7. Gratification of sexual needs
• 8. Nurturing the children
• 9. Procreation
• 10. Protection of old people

17. FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY
• Kingsley Davis speaks of four main
functions of the family:
• Reproduction
• Maintenance
• Placements
• Socialization

18. • Ogburn and Nimkoff have mentioned 6
functions:
• Recreational
• Affectional
• Economics
• Protective
• Religious
• Educational

19. • According to Goode the family has the following
functions:
I. Procreations
II. Socio-economic securities to family members
III. Determination of status of family members.
IV. Socialization and emotional support.
V. Social controls

20. TYPES OF FAMILIES

21. A.Types of Family on the Basis
of Size or Structure
On the basis of size or structure and
the depth of generation family can be classified
into two main families
1. Nuclear or the Single Unit Family
2. Extended / Joint Family

22. 1. Nuclear or the Single Unit
Family
• A unit composed of husband, wife and their
unmarried children.
• The predominant form in modern industrial
societies.
• Based on companionship between parents
and children.

23. • The size of the nuclear family is very small.
• It is free from the control of elders.
• It is regarded as the most dominant and ideal form
of family in modern society.
• The nuclear family is based on conjugal bonds.
• The children get maximum care, love and
affection of the parents in nuclear family.
• The nuclear family is independent and
economically self-sufficient.
• The members of nuclear family also enjoy more
freedom than the members of joint family.

24. 2. Extended / Joint Family
• The combination of two or more nuclear
families based on an extension of the parent-
child relationships.
• According to Murdck, “an extended family
consists of two or more nuclear families affiliated
through an extension of the parent-child
relationship … i.e. by joining the nuclear family
of a married adult to that of his parents”.

25. • The patrilineally extended family is based on an
extension of the father-son relationship, while the
matrilineally extended family is based on the
mother-daughter relationship.
• The extended family may also be extended
horizontally to include a group consisting of two
or more brothers, their wives and children. This
horizontally extended family is called the fraternal
or collateral family.

26. B. Types of Family Based on the
Basis of Marriage
• On the basis of marriage, family has been
classified into two major types:
1. Monogamous family
2. Polygamous
a. Polygynous family
b. Polyandrous family

27. 1. Monogamous Family:
• A monogamous family is one which is consisted
of one husband and one wife.
• An ideal form of family prevalent widely.
2. Polygamous Family:
• When one man marries several women or
one woman marries several men and
constitute the family, it is polygamous family.

28. (a) Polygynous Family:
• One man has more than one wife at a given
time and lives with them and their children
together.
• This kind of family is found among Eskimos,
African Negroes and the Muslims, Naga and
other tribes of central India.

29. (b) Polyandrous Family:
• One wife has more than one husband
at given time and she lives with all of
them together or each of them in turn.
• Polyandrous families are found among
some Australians, the Sinhalese
(Srilankans), the Tibetans, some
Eskimos and the Todas of Nilgiri Hills in
India.

30. C. Types of Family on the Basis Of
the Nature of Residence
1. Family of patrilocal residence
2. Family of matrilocal residence
3. Family of changing residence
i. Neolocal Residence
ii. Avunculocal Family
iii. Matri-Patri Local Family

31. 1. Patrilocal Family:
• When the wife goes to live with the husband’s
family, it is called the patrilocal family.
2. Matrilocal Family:
• When the couple after marriage moves to live
with the wife’s family, such residence is called
matrilocal.
• The husband has a secondary position in the
wife’s family where his children live.

32. (i) Neolocal Residence:
• When the couple after marriage moves to
settle in an independent residence which is
neither attached to the bride’s family of origin
nor bridegroom’s family of origin it is called
neolocal residence.
(ii) Avunculocal Family:
• The married couple moves to the house of
the maternal uncle and live with his son after
marriage. Avonculocal family is found among the
Nayars of Kerala.

33. (iii) Matri-Patri Local Family:
• In matri-patrilocal family, immediately after
marriage the bridegroom moves to the house
of the bride and temporarily settles there till
the birth of the first child and then comes back
to his family of orientation, along with wife and
child for permanent settlement.
• The Chenchuas of Andhra Pradesh live in this
type of family.

34. D. Types of Family on the Basis of
Ancestry or Descent Family
• On this basis family can be classified into two.
1. Patrilineal family
2. Matrilineal family

35. 1. Patrilineal Family:
• When descent is traced through the father, it is
called patrilineal family.
• Inheritance of property takes place along the male
line of descent.
• The ancestry of such family is determined on the basis
of male line or the father. A patrilineal family is also
patriarchal and patrilocal. This is the common type of
family prevalent today.
2. Matrilineal Family:
• Descent is traced along the female line .
• Inheritance of property also takes place along the
female line of descent.
• The Veddas, the North American Indians, some
people of Malabar and the Khasi tribe are matrilineal.
Generally, the matrilineal families are matriarchal and
matrilocal.

36. E. Types of Family on the Basis of
the Nature of Relations
1. Consanguine Family
2. Conjugal Family

37. 1. Consanguine Family
• The consanguine family is built upon the parent-child
relationship (on blood-descent).
• The family is a descent group through the male line
which is firmly vested with authority.
• The consanguine family comprises a nucleus of blood
relatives surrounded by a fringe of wives and others
who are incidental to the maintenance of the family
unit.

38. • Such families can become very large.
The Nayar family is a typical example.
• The consanguine family, which is typical of an
agricultural society, is large, stable, secure, self-
sufficient and authoritarian.

39. • The conjugal family is a nucleus of the husband, the
wife and their offspring, who are surrounded by a
fringe of relatives only incidental to the functioning of
the family as a unit.
• In this type family, the authority and solidarity of the
family group reside solely in the conjugal (husband
and wife) pair.
2. Conjugal Family

40. • In contrast to consanguine type of family, the
conjugal family is much more isolated from wider
kinship relationships.
• On the other hand the conjugal family, typical of a
modern society, is small, transient, isolated and
relatively insecure but democratic.

41. F. Alternative Family Forms
1. One-parent families
2. Cohabitations
3. LGBT

42. 1. One Parent Families
• One parent families are also known as single
parenthood.
• Single parenthood was fairly common prior to the
20 century due to more frequent death of
spouses.
• But at that time there was certain stigma
surrounding being a single parent.
• But today, single parenthood is considered more
acceptable.
• One parent families still results from death of either
of the spouse but also from choice, divorce and
an unmarried decision to have a child alone.

43. a. Single Divorced Parent Family
• The largest percentage of single parent
families are headed by divorced female
parents.
• The assumption has been made that the
trauma from divorce is likely to result in poorly
socialised cognitively deficient children who
experience poor parent- child relationship.

44. b. Never Married Single Parent
Families
• It is believed that a cultural shift towards later
marriage has contributed to a rise in never
married motherhood.
• It has been thought that children in these kinds of
families are shielded from marital status, children
of never married mothers show slightly better
academic performance and emotional adjustment
than do children of divorced and remarried
mothers.

45. 2. Cohabitation
• Unmarried couples who live together without
formally registering their relation as a
marriage.
• To “cohabit” in a broad sense means to
“coexist”.

46. 3. LGBT
• LGBT stand for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender.
• The romantic relationships of these groups
of people as well as the families they
create are considered as non-traditional.
• In 1989 Denmark became the first
country to lawful same sex marriage.
• Additional countries soon followed. Today,
in USA several states have legalised same
sex marriage.

47. FAMILY AND FAMILY SYSTEM
• Every society or social structure is characterized
by the basic unit i.e. family.
• These are the building blocks of social structure.
They have a common motto, culture, rules and
values.
• The key function of family is to preserve,
protect and promote its generation year after
year.
• Elder members of the family are responsible for
rearing their off springs. They make sure the
fulfilment of basic needs of family viz. food,
shelter and clothes.

49. FAMILY SYSTEM IN INDIA
• The institution of family is deep-rooted
social system in India. Indians are very
much attached to their families.
• Basically two types of families are found in
India.
1. Joint family
2. Nuclear family

50. 1. Joint family:
• It is a system in which several generations of
kinsmen live together in common residence and
share property.
• According to K.M. Kapadia, “Joint family is a
group which consists of a couple, their children
and other relations from father’s side or mother’s
side (in case of matriarchal families)”.

51. • Joint family is common among the Hindus.
• In Kerala two systems of Joint families are found
via: ‘Illom’ and “Tarwad”.
• “Illom” is a family system which is prevalent
among the “Nambudiris” Community. In this
system only the eldest son marries from within
the same community.
• The eldest son enjoys absolute power of
control over family property.
Tarwad:
• It is prevalent among Nayars of Kerala. It
consists of a woman her sons and daughters. It
is a Matriarchal family.

52. • India, like most other less industrialised,
traditional, eastern societies is a collectivist
society that emphasizes family integrity, family
loyalty, and family unity.
• “Collectivism is the opposite of individualism
as, a sense of harmony, interdependence and
concern for others.”
- Hui and Triandis (1988)
• More specifically, collectivism is reflected in
greater readiness to cooperate with family
members and extended kin on decisions
affecting most aspects of life, including career
choice, mate selection, marriage and its
continuity.

53. • The Indian family has been a dominant institution in
the life of the individual and in the life of the
community.
• For the Hindu family, extended family and kinship ties
are of utmost importance.
• In India, families adhere to a patriarchal ideology,
follow the patrilineal rule of descent, are patrilocal,
have familialistic value orientations, and endorse
traditional gender role preferences.
• The Indian family is considered strong, stable, close,
resilient, and enduring.
• Historically, the traditional, ideal and desired family in
India is the joint family.

54. • The elder-most, usually the male member is the
head in the joint Indian family system who
makes all important decisions and rules,
whereas other family members abide by it
dutifully with full respect.
• Manners like respecting elders, touching their
feet as a sign of respect, speaking in a dignified
manner, taking elders’ advice prior taking
important decisions, etc. is something that
Indian parents take care to inculcate in their kids
from very beginning.

55. • The head of the family responds by caring and
treating each member of the family the same.
• Male children are raised to be assertive, less
tolerant, independent, self-reliant, demanding,
and domineering.
• Females, in contrast, are socialised from an early
age to be self-sacrificing, docile,
accommodating, nurturing, altruistic, adaptive,
tolerant, and religious, and to value family
above all.
•

56. • In rural areas, low-income women have always
worked outside the home. In urban areas, there
has been a substantial increase in the number of
middle- and upper-class women working to
supplement their husbands' incomes.
• In a traditional Indian family, the wife is typically
dependent, submissive, compliant, demure, non-
assertive, and goes out of her way to please her
husband. Women are entrusted with the
responsibility of looking after the home and
caring for the children and the elderly parents
and relatives.

57. • With the advent of urbanisation and
modernisation, younger generations are turning
away from the joint family form.
• This new family form encourages frequent visits;
financial assistance; aid and support in childcare
and household chores; and involvement and
participation in life-cycle events such as births,
marriages, deaths, and festival celebrations.

58. • In spite of the numerous changes and adaptations
to a pseudo-Western culture and a move toward
the nuclear family among the middle and upper
classes, the modified extended family is preferred
and continues to prevail in modern India.
• In the traditional Indian family, communication
between parents and children tends to be one-
sided. Children are expected to listen, respect, and
obey their parents. Generally, adolescents do not
share their personal concerns with their parents
because they believe their parents will not listen
and will not understand their problems.

59. CHANGING TRENDS IN
FAMILY STRUCTURE
 The importance of family structure in India had
been recognized since Vedic age.
 The concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
(The earth is one family) was given to the world
by India. Indian people learn the essential themes
of cultural life within the bosom of a family.
 However, the last two decades have drastically
changed Indian social scenario.
 A sudden shift from joint to nuclear to single
parent or childless families is apparent.

60. • In such a situation dealing with financial, social
and moral obligations is becoming more and
harder for the earning member of family.
• Be it time, location or desired attention, the
earning members find themselves trapped in
middle of conflicting responsibilities.
• Manageable problems such as, time, money and
attention has shifted to serious problems of
security and health issues.
• In the recent past, the effect globalization have
further intensified the change of social and
family structures in the world and India is not an
exception.

61. • India's fertility rate has fallen, and couples have
begun to bear children at a later age. At the same
time, life expectancy has increased, resulting in
more elderly people who need care.
• All of these changes are taking place in the context
of increased urbanization, which is separating
children from elders and contributing disintegration
of family-based support systems.
• The family has undergone some radical
transformations in the past half a century. Its
structure has been changed, its functions have been
altered and its natures have been affected. Various
factors like social, economic, education, legal,
cultural, scientific technological development
etc. are responsible for this.

62. SIGNIFICANTTRENDSINTHEMODERNFAMILY
(1) Decreased Control of the Marriage Contract:
• Marriage is the basis of family.
• In traditional family the marriage was settled by the
parents.
• The marriage ceremony was based on the principle of
male dominance and female obedience.
• In modern family people is less subject to the parental
control regarding marital affairs.
• The marriage is now settled by the partners themselves.
• It is the choice of mate by mate usually preceded by
courtship or falling in love.

63. (2) Changes in Relationship of Man
and Woman:
• In modern family the woman is not the devotee of
man but an equal partner in life with equal rights.
• The husband does not dictate but only requests to
the wife to do a task for him.
• She can divorce her husband as the husband can
divorce her.
• Democratic ideas have provided equality and
liberty to even women too.
• As a result women are not only playing domestic
role but also economic and political roles.

64. • (3) Change in Fertility:
• Declining fertility rates and increasing age at
first birth in most of the countries in the world,
including India.
• Changing attitude towards the value of
children. In traditional societies, where human
labour was a source of strength to the family,
more children were preferred to fewer.
• Improvements in health care and child survival
also contributed.
• The emphasis was on the quality of life rather
than the quantity of children, a new concept
added to family values.

65. (4) Change in Age at marriage:
• A substantial increase of the proportions never
married, among both males and females, at young
ages, has been noted in many countries.
• A consequence of the increase in the proportion of
never married young adults is the gradual upward
trend of the average age at marriage.
• The highest increase in average age at marriage
of females during the period 1970 to1990 was
observed in India. A higher median age at first
birth is an indicator of lower fertility.
• Postponement of marriage among females
resulted postponement of childbearing with
reduction in family size.

66. (5) Change in Mortality:
• Mortality declines, particularly infant mortality,
everywhere preceded the decline of fertility.
• Improved survival rates of children mean that
when women reached the age of 30 they
increasingly had achieved the completed family
size they desired.
• In the last three decades infant mortality has
declined significantly in every country and this
trend undoubtedly influenced the fertility decline.
• Mortality decline, followed by fertility decline,
altered the age structure of the population and
also the structure within individual families.

67. (6) Change in family Size:
• In India, the reduction of the family size could be
attributed partly to economic difficulties, low
levels of income, the high cost of living, the costs
of education of children and the desire to
maintain a better standard of living, which is best
achieved within the more affordable smaller size
family.

68. (7) Marriage Dissolution:
• A considerable proportion of unions are disrupted
suddenly for reasons such as desertion,
separation or divorce.
• An obvious failure in family relationship is where
husband and wife cease to live together. Those
women who are divorced at latter ages mostly
remain single for the rest of their lives and live with
their dependents.
• The idea that when a couple has children it will be
less likely to divorce is widely accepted in most
societies.
• However it is believed that in the last couple of
years even in most of the Asian cultures, including
India, a growing proportion of divorces involve
couples with young children (Goode, 1993).

69. (8) Filo Centric Family:
• In the modern family the trend is towards the filo
centric family, where the wishes of children
determine the policy of the family.
• The social control activities of family over children
have been lessened as physical punishment is
rarely awarded to children.
(9) Parent Youth Conflict:
• Inter-personal conflicts in the family are
increasing. An unusual amount of conflict between
parents and their adolescent children are taking
place.
• Kingsley Davis says, “The stress and strain in our
culture is symptomatic of the functionless
instability of the modern small family”.

70. (10) Participation of Women in Economic
development:
• The developing economic of system India has
facilitated the freeing of women from household
chores and their entrance to the labour market.
• The declining ability of men to earn a ‘family
wage’ along with the growing need for cash for
family maintenance has resulted in an
increasing number of female members
(particularly the wife) in the family engaging in
economic activities.

71. (11) Migration:
1. The Impact of International Migration on the Family:
• The migration of married persons in substantial proportions
and delayed marriage of women have had an impact on
patterns of growth of the population in India.
• Transfer of the dependency burden of the family from the
younger to older generations in the short run is an immediate
outcome of the migration of prime working age members of
the family with increase in the proportion of older persons.
• The workers long absences from their households - especially
in the case of married persons with young children - made it
necessary for them to seek the assistance of parents or other
siblings to attend to the needs of the young children and to
assist the spouse left behind.
• One outcome of short term overseas migration for
employment is that grandparents are called upon to play a
significant role as members of the extended family.

72. 2. Internal Migration:
• Rural to urban migration enhances the process of
urbanization and is inevitably linked to the process
of economic development.
• The flow of people from rural to urban areas occurs
largely for economic reasons.
• There are other reasons, such as the better
educational or health services available in urban
areas, that function as pull factors to draw people
from rural to urban areas.
• Social and economic disparities and lack of job
opportunities in rural areas have resulted in
increased rural to urban migration in the country with
a remarkable change in the family structure.

73. (13) Impact of Ageing on Family:
• Caring for older persons seems to have other
implications that are an outcome of changing
societal norms and the resultant changes that
had taken effect within families.
• The traditional obligations towards parents and
the duty, to provide them with the love and care
that they deserve, are now difficult to fulfill.
• The prospect of the younger people living with
their parents is becoming increasingly difficult if
not impractical, as the search for employment
opportunities takes them away from their homes
and to distant lands.
• Population ageing leads to increased health care
costs.

74. (14) Impact of Globalization:
• Globalization accelerates the free flow of labour
across continents.
• Globalization and open economies have created
opportunities for migration and this has
influenced the family to change its structure.
• Specifically skilled men and woman in large
numbers are migrating to middle-east countries
seeking employment.
• As a result, the traditional decision making
responsibility of the male head of the family, in a
patriarchal society started collapsing with foreign
employment and improved economic status of
women.

75. (15) Concept of Nuclear family:
• In recent decades, globalization has tended to
promote the nucleation of family units.
• Difficulties of child bearing and rearing due to
formal sector employment, lack of government
incentives, global cultural influences, and rural to
urban migration have diminished the importance
of the extended family.
• The nuclear family has a high capacity for
mobility.

76. • NATIONAL FAMILY DAY
• – Fourth Monday in September
• (28 September, 2020 Friday)

77. “International Day of Families”
2020
“15 May”

78. GlobalFamilyDay2020
• It is celebrated as a day of peace and sharing.
• Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and
Sharing, is celebrated every January 1 in the
United States as a global day of peace and
sharing.
• Global Family Day grew out of the United Nations
Millennium celebration, “One Day in Peace”.

79. Themeof 2019InternationalDayofFamilies
• "Families and Climate Action: focus on SDG13".
• It focuses on the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals number 13 which is also known
as SDG13.
• It deals with the climate change and
how families can help in combating it through
awareness and education.