ABSTRACT
This chapter aims particularly to the hypothesis that the joint family is more characteristic of upper and landowning castes than of lower and landless castes. The sociologist William Goode has held that most parts of the world are undergoing a family revolution. The process of making comparisons has involved a number of assumptions about studies with incomplete data on family structure; these assumptions are based upon extrapolation from studies with complete data. Malhotra and Sen compare castes divided on the basis of primary occupation for family structure. The fact that there are landed castes in every category indicates that having land and being the dominant caste in a locality is not a cause for high proportions or even medium proportions of joint families. Social scientists in the Human Factor Studies Division of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, have reported a number of studies including statistics on family structure.
