Post-nuclear: What’s next for the modern family?

In India, even the nuclear family comes with extensions. See how new terms are being coined for these. Plus, what happens as more of life gets outsourced?

For most of Indian history, one has had to have a compelling reason to move away from the larger family.

A good one was work. In the absence of such a reason, a son who left his parent’s homestead with his wife and children was primarily seen to be doing so out of discord.

Even when choosing where to shift, family, in the form of more distant relatives, served as a beacon. To this day, Indians new to a city

From travel and leisure to sofas and dinnerware, the change in format is visible in the pervasive ‘rule of four’. Above, an advertisement for Ikea.

The result is a rise in nuclear families across rural and urban India, because elderly parents left behind by themselves count as nuclear families too.

Because our social ties remain strong, however, the very idea of the nuclear family in India is difficult to pin down, says Sonalde Desai, a demographer, principal investigator for the India Human Development Survey, and professor formerly at University of Maryland and now at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

According to the 2011 census, there is a whole sub-section of families lying between the conventional joint and nuclear formats. The “supplemented nuclear household” makes up 16% of the 25 crore households in India, according to census data. These are nuclear families that also contain an unmarried, divorced or widowed relative.

The “broken extended family” makes up another 4% of total family households. This is a unit in which someone who is without a spouse lives with other relatives of whom at least one is married. For instance, a widow may move in with a sister and brother-in-law, or with a nephew or niece and their spouse and children.

“In-laws / parents also rotate between children’s homes,” says Desai. “Younger siblings and cousins may spend extended periods with married couples as they study, find work and settle, over time, into their own homes.”

This broad spectrum of what constitutes a nuclear family is likely to keep changing as family sizes shrink and caregiving responsibility, for both elders and children, is shared more widely.

“Lower fertility rates always have implications for elder care. It could, for instance, potentially increase the reliance on institutional care for the elderly. This could further contribute to the decline of the broken extended family and the joint family,” Muttreja says.

She predicts further diversification in family structures too. Just last month, she points out, the Reserve Bank of India clarified that there are no restrictions on same-sex or queer couples opening a joint bank account.

“These shifts reflect broader societal changes, including greater acceptance of diverse lifestyles and relationships. They will further challenge the traditional joint and nuclear family models, creating a more fluid understanding of family structures.”