Urbanization On Family Analysis

Family is defined in different ways by different set of idealists. How a functionalist views a family maybe different from how a Marxist may view it. Just as different idealists view families differently, different cultures may view family differently as well. Understanding family often requires understanding the cultural and social context in which it is being defined. A family maybe defined as a cultural construct of political, traditional, social and religious values acted out by individuals. Every human defines family in their own terms and hence different meanings maybe attached to it. A family in my understanding can be viewed as a set of people, united by blood or adoptive ties, sharing a common set of ideas, values, or beliefs and bonded

About 40 million families of India reside in the Urban setup, which is however still extremely low as compared to the number of families residing in the rural areas. This does indicate that though there is development and urbanization taking place, but there are many who haven 't given in the pressures of modernization. Industrialization and urbanization has also brought in changes in family size, type and compositions. With increased shifting to nuclear families from joint families, there are drastic changes occurring within the household and household practices. AGE OF MARRIAGE, INTERCASTE MARRIAGES .The ARRANGED VS LOVE MARRIAGES. Family sizes seem to be decreasing as well. With certain countries like China posing laws for two children per family, many other countries though not legalizing such practices, are noticing smaller family sizes. In India for example, earlier times had trends where families were often comprising of 6-8 or more children. However with changing trends, most families are having lesser number of kids. The reasons for the same are several. Education has led to providing opportunities for women to start working and hence work pressure and time spent there does not give them a chance to spend a lot with the child, hence people practically are preferring to have lesser number of children and provide them the needed

The Hindu succession act (1956), the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961), The Hindu Marriage Act of (1955) and the Divorce Reform Act (1969) all changed the traditional nature of strict Hindu family laws and brought more egalitarian practices and rights for both men and women within a household. These have led to a lot of autonomy among the females of the family at certain places as well. The patriarchal set up is slowly changing and shifting towards a more equalitarian interactions among the new developing middle class and urban households, as well as some rural set up.(Mulatti, 1995). With modernisation, acceptance of love marriages has increased in the Indian set up and families are more than willing to allow their children to chose their respective partners, as with the changing times, traditional influences of family pressures are reducing and people are looking at the practicality of living with a specific person all their life. Divorce rates though have also started going up in India due to the provision of certain laws after independence and hence provision of autonomy to women to file for one as well. Divorce in India in the present day is not seen with as much negativity in the urban settings as compared to the rural. The modernisation effects have impacted the understanding and acceptance of divorce as sometimes a necessity. With divorce rates increasing, there is an increasing