What do you mean by marriage and family? Discuss the structural and functional changes in family in modern society. (2011)
Marriage and family are the institutions through which societies regulate sexuality, legitimise children and organise care. Modernity has changed what the family looks like (structure) and what it does (functions), though not always in step.
Meaning of marriage
- The classic Notes and Queries on Anthropology definition treats marriage as a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are the recognised legitimate offspring of both.
- Edmund Leach (1955) saw marriage as a bundle of rights: sexual access, legal paternity, labour and property.
- Kathleen Gough’s study of the Nayar (1959) showed that no single definition fits every society. Marriage is best understood as a socially sanctioned union that establishes the legitimacy of children.
- In India, K. M. Kapadia described Hindu marriage as a sacrament (with dharma, praja and rati as its aims), in contrast with the contractual nikah of Islam.
Meaning of family
- George Peter Murdock (Social Structure, 1949) defined the family as a social group marked by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction, containing adults of both sexes in a socially approved sexual relationship and their children.
- Lone-parent and same-sex families strain this definition. A. M. Shah separates the household (co-residence) from the family (kinship obligations), and David Morgan treats family as a set of practices.
Structural changes
| Dimension | Traditional | Modern |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Large, many children | Small, one or two children |
| Composition | Joint or extended | Nuclear, single-person, lone-parent, reconstituted |
| Residence | Patrilocal | Neolocal |
| Authority | Patriarch, seniority | More democratic, conjugal |
| Roles | Segregated | Joint, dual-earner |
| Stability | Near-indissoluble | Divorce and remarriage accepted |
| Principal tie | Filial and fraternal | Conjugal |
Functional changes
- Transfer. The family moved from a unit of production to one of consumption. Education, healthcare, recreation and protection shifted to schools, hospitals, markets and the state (William F. Ogburn).
- Specialisation. Talcott Parsons argued that the family keeps two “basic and irreducible” functions: primary socialisation and stabilisation of adult personalities.
- Intensification. Ronald Fletcher (1966) held that the remaining functions, such as health, education and emotional care, are now performed in greater detail.
- Conflict readings. Marxists see the modern family reproducing labour power and consumer demand. Feminists point to women’s unpaid care work, which functionalist accounts leave unseen.
- India. The protective function is being juridified, not abandoned. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 makes supporting elderly parents a legal duty. The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 bans commercial surrogacy and allows only altruistic arrangements for eligible couples and women, bringing reproduction under state oversight.
How structure and function relate
The two do not always move together. I. P. Desai found families in Mahuva (1964) “structurally nuclear but functionally joint”: separate households still pooled money, performed rituals together and cared for kin. Structure can therefore change faster than function.
Conclusion
Modern marriage has moved from sacrament and alliance towards companionship and choice, and the family from a multi-functional, extended unit towards a smaller, specialised and more diverse one. Its core functions of care, socialisation and emotional security persist, increasingly shared with, and regulated by, the state.