INTRODUCTION:

 The word ‘Family’ has been taken over from the Roman word ‘Famulus’ which
means a servant.
 The family forms the basic unit of social organization and it is difficult to imagine
how human society could function without it. The family has been seen as a universal social
institution an inevitable part of human society.

Meaning: The family is the most universal social institution, but what constitutes a “family”
varies across cultures.

Definition:
 Murdock: “Family is a social group characterized for common residence, economic
cooperation and reproduction.

Example: In some cultures, marriage imposes upon women the obligation to bear
children. In northern Ghana, for example, payment of bride wealth signifies a woman's
requirement to bear children and women using birth control face substantial threats of
physical abuse and reprisals.

FEATURES:
Universality: There is no human society in which some form of the family does not appear.
Malinowski writes the typical family a group consisting of mother, father and their progeny
is found in all communities, savage, barbarians and civilized.
Emotional basis:
The family is grounded in emotions and sentiments. It is based on our impulses of mating,
procreation, maternal devotion, fraternal love and parental care. It is built upon sentiments
of love, affection, sympathy, cooperation and friendship.
Limited size: The family is smaller in size. As a primary group its size is necessarily
limited. It is a smallest social unit.
Formative influence: The family welds an environment which surrounds trains and
educates the child. It shapes the personality and moulds the character of its members. It
emotionally conditions the child.
Nuclear position in the social structure: The family is the nucleus of all other social
organizations. The whole social structure is built of family units.
Responsibility of the members: The members of the family has certain responsibilities,
duties and obligations. Maclver points out that in times of crisis men may work and fight
and die for their country but they toil for their families all their lives.
Social regulation: The family is guarded both by social taboos and by legal regulations.
The society takes precaution to safeguard this organization from any possible breakdown.

Types and forms of the family

Types of families and their forms are based on various parameters The types of family in
sociology, have been classified as per world norms and not only India. Different types and
structures of families in society have been listed.

1. Types of family on the basis of marriage:

On the basis of marriage, family has been classified into three major types:
 Polygamous or polygynous family, Polyandrous family, Monogamous family.
2. Types of family on the basis of the nature of residence:
On the basis of the nature of residence, family can be classified into three main forms.
 Family of matrilocal residence, Family of patrilocal residence,Family of changing
residence
3. Types of family on the basis of ancestry or descent family:
On the basis of ancestry or descent family, can be classified into two main types
 Matrilineal family, Patrilineal family
4. Types of family on the basis of size or structure:
On the basis of size or structure and the depth of generations family can be classified into
two main types.
 Nuclear or the single unit family, Joint family.

Causes of declining Of Undivided System:

The main cause for its decline is the gradual breaking of the joint family system itself. The
present day trends of industrialization and westernization are giving way to
individual/nuclear family system.

FUNCTIONS OF FAMILY:
The different functions of family are as described below:
(A) Essential functions of family:
Under essential functions three functions such as, stable satisfaction of sex needs,
production and rearing of children and a provision of home.
(1) A Mating Relationship: A family exists when a man and a woman establish mating
relationship between them. The family disintegrates when the marital relationship breaks
up.
(2) Rearing of Children:
It provides food, shelter, affection, protection and security to all its members. It provides
healthy atmosphere in which the personality of the child develops properly. Family takes
care of the child at the time of need.
(3) Provision of Home:
Family perform another important function of providing a home for common living to all its
members. It is only in a home that children are born and brought upthe members need a
home to live happily with comfort, peace and protection. Man got peace by living in a home.
(B) Non-essential or secondary functions of family:
Under non-essential or secondary functions includes economic, religious, educational,
health and recreational functions. These functions are as follows:
(1) Economic functions:
Every family requires some economic arrangement to fulfill the economic needs of the
household. The family head or the other member earns money to maintain the expenses of
the family.
(2) Educational functions:
Family performs many educational functions for its members. As an primary educational
institution family used to teach letters, knowledge, skill and trade secret to all it’s members.
Mother act as the first and best teacher of a child. The educational functions of family are
taken over by school, college and universities.
(3) Religious functions:
Family is the centre of all religious activities. All the family members offer their prayers
together and observe different religious rites, rituals and practices jointly. Common family
worship became very rare and absolute.
(4) Health related functions:
Family as a primary social group performs several health related functions for its members.
It takes care of the sick old and aged persons of the family. By providing necessary nutritive
food to its members family takes care of the health of all. The child is born today in a
hospital or in a clinic and taken care of by nurses.
(5) Cultural functions:
Family also performs several cultural functions as well. It preserves different cultural traits.
Man learns and acquires culture from family and transmits it to succeeding generations.
That is why family is considered as centre of culture.
(6) Social functions:
Family performs a number of social functions. It teaches about social customs, mores,
traditions, norms, etiquette to the coming generations. Family exercises social control over
its members and bring them into conformity with accepted standards. Senior members of
family directly control the behavior of children and thereby they became a good citizen.
Scope of Family:
Family/household structures are based on the idea we can identify differences in the way
people relate to each other; in other words family and household structures are
differentiated (or different) from each other on the basis of the different lifestyles, values
and norms surrounding people’s relationships.

FUTURE OF THE FAMILY:

(a) Technological revolution:
Access to such conveniences as electricity, piped water in homes, intricate home appliances
like gas and fridge, telephone, buses and other vehicles have all changed common man’s
living and raised his standard of life.
(b) Population revolution:
Shift from agriculture to manufacturing and service, migration from rural to urban areas,
decrease in birth and death rates, increase in average expectation of life and availability of
elderly persons in family, replacement of early marriages by post-puberty and late
marriages, etc., have created problems of readjustment, changes in power structure, desire
for smaller families.
(c) Democratic revolution:
Demand of rights by women, emancipation of children from patriarch’s authority,
willingness to approach decision-making through democratic process, and change from
familisim to individualism may be described as important trends in family; and