The densely populated country Bangladesh is filled with diversified cultural practices where family is the foundation of ethical practice and bonding. The culture of creating and continuing the family system through marriage has been practiced by the Bengalis from time immemorial. Over time, the type of family and culture has been modified and modernized. This motive of staying in a compound family system started to transform based on socio-economic ups and downs. The rural communities’ interest in settling in the urban areas in quest of financial betterment is one of the major impacts of transforming joint to nuclear families. Economic disparity, social changes, educational importance clarity, demotivation in agriculture, industrial growth, urbanization etc. are the influencers of growing nuclear families in rural Bangladesh.
Influence in perspective change
Transformation of the family category has direct influence in social changes in a wider sector that impacts the long- term social practices of the particular society participants. The revolution of science and technology and the further progress of social media significantly brought out diversified changes in the lifestyle of mass people even in the rural part as well. The interest of westernization attracts the privilege of nuclear family transformation.
Reasons behind transformation
There are few catalyst that actually influenced a lot in the family transformation.Some of them are :
Financial Status influence
The economic status which identifies the average lifestyle of the people and developing countries like Bangladesh shows a roller coaster ride in the journey of being a digitalized nation. The impact of globalization and global recession impacted a lot in the segment of agricultural dependency in financial development of the rural people. Being not able to get proper justification for hard work and pay, rural people started to seek work in the industrial areas of urban zones. For example: A family of six members where two grandparents, two parents and two children live in a certain rural area depending on the male a parent’s income based on agricultural working sectors. When the only earning person moved to the nearby city, working in construction sites impacted a lot to the urge of moving his wife and children from village to the city. The gradual moving process from village to city, once totally breaks down the system of living with grandparents and totally transforms into a nuclear family.
Change in point of view
The view of cities nowadays is that the male person of the family works in garments, factories, industries, construction sites and the female works in the garments sector or as household help in the city. From just one earning person to getting a scope of both male and female working in the urban areas finding more stable financial solvency. From Once the desire to be solvent and get back to the village to joint family to the gradual process of adapting comfort in the city lifestyles totally merges the reformation of nuclear to joint family system.
Educational progress
The immense progress of literacy rate and the state of understanding the educational importance and again the fastest progress of achieving financial solvency and respected social status creating interest among the youth to be higher educated rather than just doing agricultural stuff with family persons. This urge also reflects on parents’ desires to make their children educated for getting better future achievements. The purpose of education makes rural youths move from villages to bigger cities where they can get better facilities regarding education and career. The reality is that most of the students never come back to their village after graduating and start their own families in the urban areas. This is just a random way of breaking compound families to join the system of nuclear families nowadays.
Governmental involvement
Another major perspective works is that governmental initiative of making people conscious about the family system and the merits of small families attracts people to stay in the nuclear families.
Epilogue
Apart from all kinds of modernization processes and the socio-economic condition with merit and demerits of nuclear families, children at present are badly deprived of the process of adapting grand parents’ admiration, connection with family roots and simplicity of family culture that is practiced here decade after decade.
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Author,
Kazi Suraya Eva
Intern
Content Writing Department
YSSE.