Joint Families

So, one BIG difference between many INdian families and many AMerican families is that here, many people live in joint families.  This means that in one household a man and his wife and children might live with the man's brother, and also his parents!  One man I met, and talked to at length about his joint family, is Rajesh (I changed his name to protect the innocent :-) ).

 

There are at least 11 people living in Rajesh's family:

• Rajesh, his wife Meena, and their three children
• Rajesh's mother and father
• Rajesh's brother, his brother's wife, and one child

Rajesh and Meena are activist's working on behalf of getting better water for the city.  So, they are often away at meetings in the evening; when they are gone, the other household members look after their children.  Also, they divide up household jobs.  For example, Rajesh' brother is the one who makes the lunches for almost everyone in the household every morning.  The family, which is Christian, tries to have a meal together once a day, and saves time to pray as a family every evening.

 

One of the big changes happening in Indian life now is that more and more middle class families are abandoning the joint family model to live in what we call "nuclear" families: mother, father, and children.  Why do you think they might make this choice?  Are there advantages that they give up when they move into nuclear families?  Would you prefer iving in a joint family or  anuclear family?  Why or why not?