GroundReport | India | Inter-generation gap and youth unrest in family

Inter-generation gap and youth unrest in family

India Voice October 03, 2008

Family, being the basic social unit of system, has a predominant place, particularly as it happens to be the principal agency of socialization. The principal form of family in Indian happens to be the joint and quasi-joint family.

What is known as nuclear family has however begun to emerge. At the moment, in India, we are passing through a tempestuous period of social change and modernization leading to changes and/or transformation of traditional systems, structures, values and norms. This happens to be the principal reason for the inter-generational gap and youth unrest that we witness in the context of family, marriage and kinship. Talking of the principal task of socialization, the role of the family is definitely on the decline in urban areas, but not so in rural areas. In urban areas, because of the growing importance of the nuclear family along with its new demands and the growing practice of both husband and wife pursuing occupations, the process of socialization is being distorted.

The outside agencies like the mass media, the feature films, the occasional TV set, the cheap reading material like comics and popular reading books for children, have started to play an increasing role in the vital function of socialization. Because of lack of time, the recreational function of the family is also on the decline. And the companionship role of the elders is also a casualty in modern times.

All told, as socialization is not being fully taken up within the family, individuals tend to grow on their own influenced by external agencies. As a matter of fact, even the older people in the family have grown special about the traditional cultural heritage. This naturally has made the younger generations to be at variance with the older generations.

The resulting tension between the two generations is felt in marriage and in kinship relations. The traditional ways of deciding the matrimony of the youngsters is almost falling into disuse. Instead, the prospective bride and bridegroom tend to follow the modern courtship structure and then decide whether to marry or not to marry. Very often, we hear of youngsters trying to reconcile their own preferences with those of the wishes of the parents. On occasions, the conflicting situation that arises at the time of marriage tends to snap the family bonds.

Since the younger generations tend to value things from an individualistic view-point, and also accept the modern norms relating to individual conduct, they have the least amount of respect and sympathy for the traditional kinship bonds.

The traditional habit of showing proper reverence and following the traditional structure in matters of hospitality in family gatherings and on religious occasions is almost vanishing from the life of young couples in their own households. If at all kinship relations are sought, they happen to be only for utilitarian purpose, but not out of traditional, cultural, and normative values.

Since both in matters of marriage as well as in maintaining kinship relations, the younger generations happen to be at variance with the older generations, the distance between these two appears to be very prominent. It is difficult to say when exactly in future the growing divergence between the two generations would reconcile itself.

On the other hand, the inter-generational gap and youth unrest in the context of family, marriage and kinship are almost the same as these were in the past in rural India. In traditional societies the gap between the two generations is almost negligible. The one reason why the gap is non-existent is that most of the families socialize their children in their early teens for the future occupations and roles that they should occupy. Coupled with this, the institution of child marriage also affords the least scope for tension between older and younger generation. On occasions, young girls who are married to young boys go through the process of socialization in the home of their newly acquired husband and father-in-law and mother-in-law. In the case of boys, there is no question of nuclear families being set up since the compulsion of earning livelihood makes the boys live with their parents till the time of their death. It is only after the death of parents that original families get divided and that too if it is found to be economically convenient. As a matter of fact, the principal reason that makes the rural community prefer the joint or quasi-joint family structure is because of the economic compulsion.

In rural India, if at all the inter-generation gap and youth unrest appear, they occur only in villages on the fringes of urban areas and in the households of rich rural folk who appear to maintain frequent contacts with the urban areas either in the form of visits or in the form of children seeking higher education there. It is in these families that some amount of tension and the phenomenon of youth unrest are to be found between generations. The principal agency instrumental in causing this tension in this segment of society happens to be the feature film and the very look of urban areas that young people frequent and become allured to.In brief, what is known as inter-generational gap and youth unrest is an urban phenomenon in the context of family, marriage and kinship. However, because of increasing tempo of industrialization and the resulting improvement in the growth of communications, increasing inter-dependence of economy activities and increasing role of the mass media, we can fairly anticipate that this phenomenon of inter-generational gap and youth unrest would be experienced in rural areas also.