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Paper short abstract:

Family is considered as the primary social unit of human existence. The present paper attempts to understand the dynamics of family in the Indian context, looking into the changes in the structural and functional aspects of family with their multiple implications for the emerging social realities.

Paper long abstract:

Family is traditionally considered in all societies as the primary social unit of human existence and hence the basis for expressing and moulding the basic tenets of social behavior and relationship in society. It has been a subject of interest and of serious study at various levels down the centuries, and has always attracted the attention of the social scientists, for long. In India, for most part, the traditional system had survived for centuries without any major institutional alterations or dislocations. With the advent of the British, and later with the processes of industrialization, modernization, and the recent trends of globalisation, the structural features and the functional implications of family have started changing, altering its traditional norms and inherent dynamics. Today, it is one of the social institutions which are undergoing radical changes, although the rate of change may vary across societies, communities and regions. The present paper attempts to understand the dynamics of family, focusing mainly on the structural variations, nature of spousal relationships and pre-nuptial intimacies, and the gender-neutral productive-income prospects, all of which bring about variations in the structural and functional aspects of family with multiple implications for the emerging social realities. The paper also discusses some of the emerging challenges in the changing family system, looking into its possible impact and implications for the future of the Indian Society.