DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Joint family concept .....where is it now ??

**PhillipHer** · 05-02-2006, 11:56 PM

Again as the same person said this has been the truth from the time of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, so dont blame western influence.

Sensible point. We tend to blame most of our social and moral problems on the Western culture. Some of it may be true, but not all.

The demise of Joint family can be attributed more to the changes in our lifestyle more than anything else.

Long time ago, the whole family did the same job, it was more like a family job or business. All in the family were farmers (farming the same land) or priests or businessmen. So it was a team and all of them were working towards a common goal.
When all in the family are doing more or less the same thing, then the possibilities of rift are less likely.
But now each member of the team have a different goal. Its very rare to come across a family where all the siblings are involved in the same job, in the same geographical area. Its natural for a joint family system under such circumstance to work against the benefit rather than for the benefit of the whole family.
Even in present days there are lots of family businesses going on and they all live under the same roof.
Demise of joint family can be explained as adapting to the changing environment (in order to succeed) rather than the emergence of 'my' concept (which has been with us for since the evolution of mankind).
IMO the worrying trend is the ever sprouting Old age Homes. Old people who need to be looked after by their children, are left to fend for themselves, it’s the children’s responsibility to look after parents in their old age. Its degradation of this simple moral value that needs to be addressed.

05-02-2006, 11:56 PM	#28
PhillipHer Join Date Jun 2008 Age 58 Posts 4,481 Senior Member	Again as the same person said this has been the truth from the time of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, so dont blame western influence. Sensible point. We tend to blame most of our social and moral problems on the Western culture. Some of it may be true, but not all. The demise of Joint family can be attributed more to the changes in our lifestyle more than anything else. Long time ago, the whole family did the same job, it was more like a family job or business. All in the family were farmers (farming the same land) or priests or businessmen. So it was a team and all of them were working towards a common goal. When all in the family are doing more or less the same thing, then the possibilities of rift are less likely. But now each member of the team have a different goal. Its very rare to come across a family where all the siblings are involved in the same job, in the same geographical area. Its natural for a joint family system under such circumstance to work against the benefit rather than for the benefit of the whole family. Even in present days there are lots of family businesses going on and they all live under the same roof. Demise of joint family can be explained as adapting to the changing environment (in order to succeed) rather than the emergence of 'my' concept (which has been with us for since the evolution of mankind). IMO the worrying trend is the ever sprouting Old age Homes. Old people who need to be looked after by their children, are left to fend for themselves, it’s the children’s responsibility to look after parents in their old age. Its degradation of this simple moral value that needs to be addressed.
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