Karnataka 2nd PUC Sociology Question Bank Chapter 4 Family in India

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2nd PUC Sociology Family in India One Mark Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Who called the Indian joint family as a “Greater Home”?
Answer:
Henry Maine.

Question 2.
Mention one advantage of joint family.
Answer:
Protection to Members.

Question 3.
Mention one disadvantage of joint family.
Answer:
Promotes Idleness.

Question 4.
What is IUam?
Answer:
Patriarchical Joint Family ofNambudris Brahmina.

Question 5.
What is Tarawad?
Answer:
Matriarchal Joint Family of Nairs of Kerala.

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Question 6.
Who is Karnavan?
Answer:
Senior male member of Tarawad.

Question 7.
State one chang of joint family.
Answer:
Changes in the size of the joint family.

Question 8.
Who is the author of the book ‘Kinship Organization in India?
Answer:
Iravathi Karve.

Question 9.
Who is the author of the book ‘Marriage and Family in India?
Answer:
K.M. Kapadia.

Question 10.
Who wrote some Aspects of family in Mahuva?
Answer:
I.P Desai.

Question 11.
Which is the main occupation of Narasinganarar family?
Answer:
Agriculture.

Question 12.
Who called Indian Joint family as a co-operative Institution and Joint stock company?
Answer:
‘O’malley.

2nd PUC Sociology Family in India Two Marks Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Define joint family.
Answer:
Joint family: Iravati Karve (Kinship Organization in India) “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common, participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred”.

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Question 2.
Mention any two characteristics of joint family.
Answer:
Depth of Generations and Common Roof.

Question 3.
Mention any two advantages of joint family.
Answer:
Protection to members and Provides Recreation.

Question 4.
Mention any two disadvantages of joint family.
Answer:
Promotes Idleness and Encourages litigation.

Question 5.
Mention two types of joint family.
Answer:
Matriarchical and Patriarchical Joint Family.

Question 6.
Mention any two causes for changes in joint family.
Answer:
Education and Industrialization.

Question 7.
State the Iravathi Kervey’s definition of Joint family?
Answer:
Joint family: Iravati Karve (Kinship Organization in India) “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common, participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred”.

Question 8.
Write any two legislations which affect the Indian family?
Answer:
Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 Domestic Violence Act of 2005

Question 9.
On what basis IP. Desai classified families in India.
Answer:
Joistness interim of religion occupational relation degree, Intensity and orientation regarding functions and obligation. ,

Question 10.
What is joint family?
Answer:
Joint family: Iravati Karve (Kinship Organization in India) “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common, participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred”.

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2nd PUC Sociology Family in India Five Marks Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Explain any five characteristics of joint family.
Answer:
(1) Depth of Generations: Joint family consists of people of three or more generations including grandparents, parents and children. Sometimes, other kins such as uncles, aunts, cousins and great grandsons also live in a joint family.

(2) Common Roof: Henry Maine called the joint family a ‘Greater Home’. Members of the joint family normally reside together under the same roof. It is a place to uphold the family Heritage. It is a place for Socio, Economic, Religious, Entertainment etc. Due to the scarcity of accommodation members of the joint family may reside separately. Still, they try to retain regular contacts and the feeling of belonging to the same family. They have emotional and economic links with the original family.

(3) Common Kitchen: Members eat the food prepared jointly at the common kitchen. Normally, the eldest female member of the family (the wife of the Karta) supervises the work at the kitchen. Rest of the female members engaged in different kitchen work. A single kitchen under a common roof is a unique element of joint family.

(4) Common Worship: Joint family derives its strength from religion. Hence, it is associated with various religious rituals and practices. Every family may have its own deity of ‘Kula devata’ and its own religious tradition. Members of the family take part in common worship, rites and ceremonies. At least once a year they join other members to take part in the festivals, feasting, marriage ceremonies and so on.

(5) Common Property: The members hold a common property. As O’ Malley writes: “The joint family is a co-operative institution similar to a joint stock company in which there is a joint property”. The total earnings of the members are pooled into a common purse of the family and family expenses are met with out of that.

(6) Exercise of Authority: In the patriarchal joint family usually the eldest male member known as ‘Karta’ exerscises authority. The super-ordination of the eldest member and the subordination of all the other members to him is a keynote of the joint family. His commands are normally obeyed by others. Karta ruled his family by love and affection. Similarly, in the matriarchal joint family the eldest female (matriarch) member exercises the su-preme authority.

(7) Arranged Marriages: In the joint family, the elders consider it as their privilege to arrange the marriages of the members. The individual’s right to select his/her life-partner is undermined. The younger members rarely challenge their decisions and arrangements. But now-a-days selecting a life partner to a family member is more of democratic in nature.

(8) Identification with Mutual Rights and Obligations towards the Family: Every member has his own duties and obligations towards the family. The family in turn, protects the interests and promotes the welfare of all. The senior members of the family act as the guide for junior members.

(9) Self-Sufficiency: Joint family is relatively self-sufficient. It used to meet the economic, recreational, medical, educational and other needs of the members. No type of family is self-reliant that way today.

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Question 2.
Describe the advantages of joint family.
Answer:

  1. Economic Advantage: Joint family prevents property being divided, subdivision and fragmentation. Cooperation of all the members supports the economic activities. It is the best pattern of living that is most conducive to the growth.
  2. Protection of Members: Joint family protects their members during childhood, adult and old age. It is capable of providing assistance at the time of pregnancy, sickness, death and other situations.
  3. Provides Recreation: Joint family provides recreation to its members. Similarly in a joint family the children play together. As a result there grows the feeling of oneness.
  4. Development of Personality: Joint family helps a person to build his/her own personality. They learn the lessons of generosity, patience, service, cooperation and obedience. Here a sense of sacrifice replaces selfishness. As such the disciplines in a joint family are self- imposed on its members.
  5. Socialism in Nature: Joint family is like a Cooperative Trust and in joint family each member works according to his capability and gets according to his need. In this sense to a larger extent achieves the socialistic order. The joint kitchen, naturally, runs on an understanding of mutual adjustment. Naturally those who are benefitted by the generosity of others remain obliged and grateful.

Question 3.
Explain any five disadvantages of joint family.
Answer:

  1. Promotes Idleness: Joint family is the home for idlers and drovers as the non-earning members do not want to earn their livelihood. In the joint family it happens that some people have to exhaust themselves while the others lead a life of utter lethargy.
  2. Hindrance to the Development of Personality: In joint family there is a very little opportunity for the fostering of individual autonomy or self dependence.
  3. Encourages Litigation and Nepotism: The joint family may encourage litigation at the time of partition of common property; generally disputed crop up peaceful life is disturbed by such litigation, quarrels and conflicts. It is that joint family .systems are the root cause of Nepotism and discrimination of The Head of the family (Karta).
  4. Unfavourable for Savings and Investments: It is not favourable to accumulation of capital. When one has to share one’s income with large family,, it is not possible to save much. Joint family has to spend large amount of money on marriage and other uneconomic activities leads to unfavorable for Investment.
  5. Hinders Social Mobility and Low Status of Women: Joint family damages individual initiative and enterprise and it does not provide proper opportunity for the members to develop their talents. Any new enterprise or adventure on the part of the young people is discouraged by the head of the family.

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Question 4.
Write a note on Tarwad.
Answer:
Tarawads were matrilineal institutions. Fathers had no significant properties separate from their own Tarawads to give their children, and fathers held no special claims over their children. The Tarawad institutions included family, household, and lands maintained a status and a life beyond any individual. Material support for the household was drawn from the inseparable lands of the Tarawad.

Properties of Tarawad were managed by a senior male called a ‘Karanavan’. The karanavan as the head of a large extended family. The internal management of the affairs of the tarawad were in fact directed by a senior female – a mother, aunt, or grandmother of all sharing the wealth and status of the Tarawad. Both males and females had a whole-life security within their mother’s tarawads; fathers visited only on occasion.

The kamavan is an absolute ruler of the family. On his death the next senior male member becomes kamavan. He can invest money in his own name, can mortgage property, can give money on loan, can give land as gift and is not accountable to any member in respect of income and expenditure. When Tarwad becomes too large, it is divided into Tavashis. ATavashis in relation to a woman is “a group of persons consisting of a female, her children and all descendents in the matrilineal.

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Question 5.
Explain the causes for changes in joint family.
Answer:
1. Industrialization: With the establishment of factories in many places of the country, agriculture was pushed to the background and with it changed those social institutions which were its products. The industrial centers pulled persons of different families out of the traditional peasant society comprising of joint families.. This struck at the roots of joint families and the process of change started. Furthermore, the process of change in joint family gained momentum from the rapid development of transport and communication.

2. Urbanization: The percentage of workers dependent on agriculture comes down and more and more people migrate to cities and towns in search of jobs. The urban centers also provide people with various amenities of life concerning transport and communication, sanitation and health, education and employment etc., People are tempted by the lure of urban facilities and there is a rural to urban type of migration. Gradually they lost control over Joint family remained an independent in cities in the nuclear families.

3. Rapid Growth of Population: Rapid growth of population brought corresponding increased of the pressure on land. Agriculture being the prime occupation of the villagers, the rural youth-faced the problem of unemployment. People began to move into cities and industrial centers in search of jobs. Thus they had to leave the traditional joint families which resulted in the breakdown of jointness.

4. Education: Education changes the attitude of people. It enables people to get into jobs or profession. Modem education leads to occupational mobility. It has not only brought changes in the attitudes, beliefs, values and ideologies of the people, but has also created the individualistic feelings. The increasing education not only brings changes in the philosophy of life of men and women but also provides new avenues of employment and led to economic independence.

5. Changing Status of Women: Social reform movements, awareness among the women for their own position, all affected the patriarchal authority of the joint family system. The spread of modem education enlightened the women. Education made them conscious of their rights and status in the society. It brought about drastic changes in the practices and ideals of family.

They were no more prepared to remain within the four walls of the household in the traditional subordinate position. Social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Keshab Chandra Sen, Jyothi Rao Phule, Maharshi Karve, Pandit Ramabai and many others worked and achieved considerable success for the cause of women. All these factors affected the patriarchal authority of the joint family. As a sequel to that the process of disintegration started in the joint family.

6. Social Legislations: Legislations enacted during the British rule proved harmful for joint family. Gains of Learning Act of 1930, the right of women to share in the property of the joint family by the Hindu Law of Inheritance Act of 1929, and the Hindu women’s Right to Property Act of 1937. Sati Prevention Act 1782, Hindu Widow Remarriage Act 1856, Child Marriage Restraint Act 1902 have brought changes in family relations.

After independence the process has continued and fundamental changes in the law of inheritance have been brought about by the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Civil Marriage Act, 1957 gave the freedom to the adult males and females to marry according to their choice and helped the women to seek divorce on certain grounds. All these legislations gave enough facility to the members to divide the joint family immediately after the death of the father. The necessity of jointness has also weakened due to various governmental provisions relating to old age pension, widow pension etc.

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2nd PUC Sociology Family in India Ten Marks Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Define joint family and explain its characteristics.
Answer:
“Joint family is a group of kins of several generations, ruled by a head, in which there is a joint residence, common kitchen and property, where members are bound with each other by natural obligation.”

  • Iravati Karve (Kinship Organization in India) “A joint family is a group of people who generally live under one roof, who eat food cooked at one hearth, who hold property in common, participate in common family worship and are related to each other as some particular type of kindred”.
  • K.M. Kapadia (Marriage and Family in India) “Joint Family is a group formed not only of a couple and their children, but also other relations either from father’s side of from mother’s side depending on whether the joint family is patrilineal or matrilineal.”

(1) Depth of Generations: Joint family consists of people of three or more generations including grandparents, parents and children. Sometimes, other kins such as uncles, aunts, cousins and great grandsons also live in a joint family.

(2) Common Roof: Henry Maine called the joint family a ‘Greater Home’. Members of the joint family normally reside together under the same roof. It is a place to uphold the family Heritage. It is a place for Socio, Economic, Religious, Entertainment etc. Due to the scarcity of accommodation members of the joint family may reside separately. Still, they try to retain regular contacts and the feeling of belonging to the same family. They have emotional and economic links with the original family.

(3) Common Kitchen: Members eat the food prepared jointly at the common kitchen. Normally, the eldest female member of the family (the wife of the Karta) supervises the work at the kitchen. Rest of the female members engaged in different kitchen work. A single kitchen under a common roof is a unique element of joint family.

(4) Common Worship: Joint family derives its strength from religion. Hence, it is associated with various religious rituals and practices. Every family may have its own deity of ‘Kula devata’ and its own religious tradition. Members of the family take part in common worship, rites and ceremonies. At least once a year they join other members to take part in the festivals, feasting, marriage ceremonies and so on.

(5) Common Property: The members hold a common property. As O’ Malley writes: “The joint family is a co-operative institution similar to a joint stock company in which there is a joint property”. The total earnings of the members are pooled into a common purse of the family and family expenses are met without of that.

(6) Exercise of Authority: In the patriarchal joint family usually the eldest male member. known as ‘Karta’ exercise authority. The super-ordination of the eldest member and the subordination of all the other members to him is a keynote of the joint family. His commands are normally obeyed by others. Karta ruled his family by love and affection. Similarly, in the matriarchal joint family the eldest female (matriarch) member exercises the supreme authority.

(7) Arranged Marriages: In the joint family, the elders consider it as their privilege to arrange the marriages of the members. The individual’s right to select his/her life-partner is undermined. The younger members rarely challenge their decisions and arrangements. But nowadays selecting a life partner to a family member is more of democratic in nature.

(8) Identification with Mutual Rights and Obligations towards the Family: Every member has his own duties and obligations towards the family. The family in turn, protects the interests and promotes the welfare of all. The senior members of the family act as the guide for junior members.

(9) Self-Sufficiency: Joint family is relatively self-sufficient. It used to meet the economic, recreational, medical, educational and other needs of the members. No type of family is self-reliant that way today.

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Question 2.
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of joint family.
Answer:

  1. Economic Advantage: Joint family prevents property being divided, subdivision and. fragmentation. Cooperation of all the members supports the economic activities. It is the best pattern of living that is most conducive to the growth.
  2. Protection of Members: Joint family protects their members during childhood, adult and old age. It is capable of providing assistance at the time of pregnancy, sickness, death and other situations.
  3. Provides Recreation: Joint family provides recreation to its members. Similarly in a joint family the children play together. As a result there grows the feeling of oneness.
  4. Development of Personality: Joint family helps a person to build his/her own personality. They learn the lessons of generosity, patience, service, cooperation and obedience. Here a sense of sacrifice replaces selfishness. As such the disciplines in a joint family are self- imposed on its members.
  5. Socialism in Nature: Joint family is like a Cooperative Trust and in joint family each member works according to his capability and gets according to his need. In this sense to a larger extent achieves the socialistic order. The joint kitchen, naturally, runs on an understanding of mutual adjustment. Naturally those who are benefitted by the generosity of others remain obliged and grateful.

Disadvantages of Joint Family: The Joint family also suffers from a few disadvantages. Namely:

1. Promotes Idleness: Joint family is the home for idlers and drovers as the non-earning members do not want to earn their livelihood. In the joint family it happens that some people have to exhaust themselves while the others lead a life of utter lethargy.

2. Hindrance to the Development of Personality: In joint family there is a very little opportunity for the fostering of individual autonomy or self dependence.

3. Encourages Litigation and Nepotism: The joint family may encourage litigation at the time of partition of common property; generally disputed crop up peaceful life is disturbed by such litigation, quarrels and conflicts. It is that joint family systems are the root cause of Nepotism and discrimination of The Head of the family (Karta).

4. Unfavorable for Savings and Investments: It is not favourable to accumulation of capital. When one has to share one’s income with large family, it is not possible to save much. Joint family has to spend large amount of money on marriage and other uneconomic activities leads to unfavorable for Investment.

5. Hinders Social Mobility and Low Status of Women: Joint family damages individual initiative and enterprise and it does not provide proper opportunity for the members to develop their talents. Any new enterprise or adventure on the part of the young people is discouraged by the head of the family.

Question 3.
Write a note on Illum and Tarwad.
Answer:
Nambudri Brahmins lived in patrilineage families which were called Illum. The Nambudris were landowners. Land was considered indivisible, and indivisibility was ensured by the rule of primogeniture. The Nambudri Illom consisted of a man, his wife or wives, his children and his younger brothers. The continuation follow property among the Nambudris are facilitated by the custom of the eldest son marrying girl from his caste, while other sons, although not theoretically debarred from marrying women from their caste, generally do not marry Nambudri women.

It is only when the eldest son fails to have children that the next senior member marries and continues the family. The right of partition being restricted, junior members of the family have only the right to maintenance. The eldest son of the Illum though has absolute control over the family

property: he has no power to alienate it by sale or gift without the consent of the other members. Even the female members have to give their consent in order to alienate it. Nair’s Matriarchal Joint Family – Tarwad Tarawads were matrilineal institutions. Fathers had no significant properties separate from their own Tarawads to give their children, and fathers held no special claims over their children. The Tarawad institutions included family, household, and lands maintained a status and a life beyond any individual. Material support for the household was drawn from the inseparable lands of the Tarawad.

Properties of Tarawad were managed by a senior male called a ‘Karanavan’. The karanavan as the head of a large extended family. The internal management of the affairs of the tarawad were in fact directed by a senior female – a mother, aunt, or grandmother of all sharing the wealth and status of the Tarawad.

Both males and females had a whole-life security within their mother’s tarawads; fathers visited only on occasion. The kamavan is an absolute ruler of the family. On his death the next senior male member becomes kamavan. He can invest money in his own name, can mortgage property, can give money on loan, can give land as gift and is not accountable to any member in respect of income and expenditure. When Tarwad becomes too large, it is divided into Tavashis. ATavashis in relation to a woman is “a group of persons consisting of a female, her children and all descendents in the matrilineal.

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Question 4.
Write a note on Narasinganavar patriarchal joint family.
Answer:
The Narasinganavar family is a patriarchal Joint family of about 206 individuals who are residing together in the village of Lokur in the Dharwad district of Karnataka. All the individuals in the family share a common ancestry and this family is recognized as one of the largest undivided families in the world. The family spans across five generations. Bhimanna Jinapa Narasinganavar is the patriarch of the family.

For India’s largest joint family, balancing the family is a forbidding task. The Narsingnavar family finds that expenditure on its 206 members always seems to be more than its income. Patriarch Narsingnavar (72), who has been handling money matters of this jumbo family for the past 30 years, says “We believe family finances could be the biggest source of discontent. In their wisdom and sincerity, the elders gave me this job. Whatever I do well be in the interest of the family”.

Agriculture is the main occupation for this family. It owns 270 acres of cultivable land, the annual income is Rs 8 lakh to Rs 12 lakh depending on the monsoon and market. Its annual expenditure of around Rs 10 lakh is largely on farm labour and agriculture machinery. While the family’s requirement of food grains, vegetables and milk are met by its own efforts, it spends a substantial amount on provisions, clothes, medicines, soap and tea.

If there’s resource crunch, the earning members contribute to the common kitty and Bheemanna keeps a meticulous record of the transactions. Weddings are performed every eight or ten years with several marriages being solemnised at the same time. The family’s only source of entertainment is TV.

Question 5.
Describe the views of I.P. Desai on joint family.
Answer:
I.P. Desai studied a small port town in Gujarat called ‘Mahuva’ in early sixties. Based on the data collected by I.P. Desai, examined the question of jointness in terms of religion, occupational relations, property, education, urbanisation, kinship obligations and household composition.

Besides the structural aspect of family, I.P. Desai examined carefully the types of jointness based on degree, intensity and orientation regard to functions and obligations which people perform for each other, though living separately and at different far off places. Desai finds the following five types of degrees of jointness:

  1. Households with zero degree of jointness.
  2. Households of low degree of jointness (joint by way of the fulfillment of mutual obligations)
  3. Households with high degree of jointness (jointness by way of common ownership of property)
  4. Households with higher degree of jointness (marginally joint families)
  5. Households of highest degree of jointness (traditional joint families)

Thus according to I.P. Desai the structural breakdown is only apparent but not real. Today’s joint family may give rise to several nuclear families and each nuclear family may become a small joint family and after two decades when grandchildren are born, the depth of generations becomes three. Indian family is altering between nucleamess and jointness in a cyclical fashion.

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