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Impact of Modernism on Family

Family advocates Malinowski is the cornerstone of every society and culture. Family offers a person residential identity, social status, right to property affiliation with kinship and emotional support. In western European societies Jack Goode finds that world revolution has contributed for the transformation of family system.

In Indonesia and Philippines industrialization has drawn adult males and females from rural centers to the urban areas. However the elderly generation still stays in the rural areas looking after the family farm and the young ones employed in the industries regularly visit their traditional family explaining how industrial revolution has not completely broken down the family system in these societies.

Lawrence Stone in Family transformations in the world advocates that families change from the elementary structure to patriarchal structure to reach at the stage of conjugal structure. In primitive societies people go for nuclear families or elementary families therefore the basic unit of family consists of husband, wife and children. But one's duties, responsibilities, obligations in relation to family are subdued to one's responsibility towards the community when economy stabilizes secured sense of income and livelihood comes out of agriculture the males take active part in agrarian mode and compelling women to look into domestic activities. As a result division of work explains variations in status and consolidation of patriarchal joint family system. Finally industrialization, women empowerment and modernization give rise to the gender equality both at family and at the place of work. Therefore man becomes family centric in modern society and both husband and wife appreciate each other accommodate to each other's interest to keep family going and continuing in modern society. He asserts that the decline of modern family system will give importance on the elementary family system.

Steiner does not agree with the universal theory of family change developed by Lawrence Stone. He asserts that Islamic revolution in Arabian sub continent has contributed for commercial growth on the one hand but consolidation of patriarchy, lower status of women and women's separation from employment on the other. In South Africa under the impact of industrialization the demographic composition of family is changing but geographically dispersed members of the family address to the needs of each other at the time of crisis. Therefore the bearing of industrialization on family system is not uniform. In Poland the elderly people live in the countryside along with their grandchildren. The adults go for industrial occupation and urban living. As a result social demography is evenly balanced and family not undergoing through the state of crisis.

Anthony Giddens while speaking about the bearings of industry and modernization on family system advocates that the structure of family, the forms of interrelationship within family are greatly determined by multiple criteria including class, race, ethnic identity, personal experience and other factors. It is generally found that interpersonal relationships among the members in the families in upper and lower class is absolutely weak. Thus search for freedom or perpetual poverty hence search for escapism. In both these societies the rate of divorce is quite high. Talking about family encountering with crisis in modern society it is generally found that Asian parents are more concerned about the security of their children. Hence they concentrate more on savings, children's education appropriate socialization. Therefore family integration is high in case of Asians.

With regard to race he finds out that both blacks and whites sufficiently go for the breakdown of marriage, pre -marital and post- marital relationships is greatly unfound in case of Jews and Asian immigrants. As a result the stability and security of family is not identically determined by industrialization. Finally one's personal experience during childhood necessarily influences to his future role in the family set up .A troubled childhood may stimulate a child to go for the untroubled parenthood at a future date. Thus in conclusion dismissing to Classical Theory of Sir Henry Maine, Morgan, Tonnies who advocate that joint families transform into nuclear families under the impact of industrialization one would conclude that the bearings of industrialization, modernization, women empowerment are bound to be different on different family systems in different societies and cultures.

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