I.P. DESAI

 

ISHWAR LAL PRAGJI DESAI

 

  • ü     I.P. Desai is one of the second generation of sociologist in India.
  • ü      He played a pioneering role in shaping the teaching and research in the discipline.
  • ü      He was not only an academician but also an activist.
  • ü      He was influenced by Marx.
  • ü      He acknowledged himself as political activist. 

BIBOGRAPHY

  • ü Born on 31st July 1911 at village Parujan, Taluka Navsari, Surat district Gujarat.
  • ü  He completed his primary education in village Parujan while secondary education in Surat.
  • ü  He belongs to the Anavil caste-belonging to the Brahmin community.
  • ü  His education was influenced by the political and social conditions of that time as he acknowledges himself as political and social worker.
  • ü  When he was in Surat he stayed in Anavil hostel basically for male members of the Anavil caste.
  • ü  His caste status was also a privilege for him.
  • ü  After schooling Desai joined M.T.B. arts college in Surat in 1929 but due to his involvement in the civil Disobedience movement he did not complete his studies.  
  • ü  He later joined Wilson college in Bombay for his graduation. He completed his graduation in 1934.
  • ü  He then enrolled for his master’s degree in School  of economics and sociology of Bombay University.
  • ü  He was the student of G.S. Ghurye and he completed his PhD under Prof G.S. Ghurye.
  • ü  The title of his PhD was SOCIAL BASIS OF CRIME
  • ü  In the initial stage he did not conducted any field work, his work was based on a kind of literature review.
  • ü  From 1945-51 he taught in Samaldas college of Bhavnagar. In 1951 he left Bhavnagar he joined the Deccan Post graduate and Research institute..
  • ü  He also worked under Irawati Karve.
  • ü  Prof. G.S. Ghurye and Irawati Karve influenced I.P Desai’s research and writings.
  • ü  In 1952 he joined Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda where he worked as a reader with M.N. Srinivas as his colleague.
  • ü  In 1959 Desai was appointed as Professor and Head of the Department after Srinivas left Baroda.
  • ü  He remained as HOD till he took voluntary retirement.
  • ü  He was in disagreement with Srinivas as he was not comfortable with the structural functional approach of Srinivas.

AREA OF RESEARCH

ü  Desai in his 40 years of academic life has written extensively on various topics such as education, family, caste, tribe, untouchability, migration, reservation, social movement, social change etc.

ü  He had almost worked in every field. He used inductive analysis in the place of deductive analysis in is studies.   

ü  Inductive: The researcher does empirical field work.

ü  Deductive: It starts with a theory. The researcher test the existing theory with reference to the empirical reality to see whether the theory is correct or incorrect.

ü  This makes him different form his contemporary scholars.

SOME ASPECTS OF FAMILY IN MAHUVA

 

I.P. Desai studied a small port town in Gujarat called ‘MAHUVA’ in the early sixties. Based on the data collected I.P. Desai examined the question of jointness in terms of religion, occupation, relations, property, education, urbanization, kinship obligations and household composition.

 

MAHUVA:  is a town in the State of Gujarat, north of Bombay.

v  It is more rural than urban in its social settlement.

v  In 1956 the total population of the town was about 25000.

v  The town itself is old but a new suburb added to it in the form of a planned town which has a separate residential shopping and industrial areas.

v  At the time of study there was a cotton spinning mill in Mahuva which employed 1000 persons. Three oil mills and a saw mill was also there. A Biri making unit, A soap making unit, carpentry shops etc were also existing.

v  In the study of Mahuva Desai studied 423 families.

 

Composition of population

 

 

Hindus

78%

 

Muslims

20%

 

Ist generation

4.02%

Nuclear families

IInd generation

57.45

Nuclear families

IIIrd  generation

32.86%

Joint families

IVth generation

5.67%

Joint families

Total percentage of joint families

38.53%

 

 

The percentage of joint family was less than nuclear families.

 

 

 

DEGREE OF JOINTNESS

 

I.P. Desai carefully examined the types of jointness based on degree, intensity and orientation with regard to functions and obligations which people perform for each other through living separately at different far off places. Desai finds the following five types of degree of jointness

 

1                    Household with zero degree of jointness : 4.96% (Nuclear)

2                    Household with low degree of Jointness : 26.48% (Joint by way of the fulfillment of mutual obligations)

3                    Household with high degree of jointness : 17.02% (jointness by way of common ownership of property)

4                    Household with higher degree of jointness : 30.26 (Marginal joint families)

5                    Household of highest degree of jointness : 21.28% (Traditional joint families)

 

In this famous study of Mahuva Desai raised two issues regarding joint family in India:

1                    the issue of definition of joint family

2                    the future of joint family

Ø  He followed a scientific approach in the study of family in Mahuva.

Ø  He used survey method, questionnaire, coding, tabulation and statistical analysis.

Ø  It was a study of change using modernization approach.

Ø  He also challenged the convergence theory of modernization.

Ø  He made a comparative analysis of family system in South East Asia.

Ø  Desai pointed out that it was difficult to find a complete definition of joint family which can take care of all aspects of joint family.

Ø  He used household as the unit of observation.

Ø  He classified households into four types and then categorized them as nuclear or joint.

Ø  The household in which members of three or more generations lived together was called joint family (traditionally)

Ø  On the basis of this data he could not judge whether the norm of joint living was weakening because joint residence was only one aspect of manifestation of jointness.

Ø  Then he analyzed household on the basis of different degree of jointness.

Ø  He decided the degree of jointness on the basis of joint residence, joint property, recognition of mutual obligations and kinship relations.

Ø  The classification of household based on different aspects of jointness was a distinct feature of this study.

Ø  He concluded that jointness could exist without common residence or common property.

Ø  He examined the relationship of jointness with property, education and stay in urban area.

 

Desai observed that kinship relation and obligation were important factors in maintaining jointness. He categorized Indian families on the basis of relationship and jointness into five :

1                    Nuclear family: Which is separate regarding work and residence

2               Functional joint family: which is nuclear in terms of residence but in the sense of mutual responsibilities it is joint.

3             Functional and authoritative joint family: which is nuclear in terms of residence but in accordance to property, work (functions) and mutual obligations, responsibilities and duties it is joint.

4            Marginal joint family: which is joint in terms of residence, property and functions but there is a limitation of two generations

5            Traditional joint family:  like of marginal joint family it is also joint in terms of residence, property and functions but it is a combination of three or more generations.

 

Desai considered three bases of joint family:

DEPTH OF GENERATION

RIGHT AND OBLIGATION

PROPERTY

 

Desai argued that in future jointness based on acceptance of mutual obligations would be found more prevalent than any other aspect of jointness.

 

Prof. Desai challenged the notion of tradition Indian society as exclusively extended family based. He highlighted the diversity and adaptability of family structures within traditional Indian society. He offers a nuanced understanding of historical family dynamics, showcasing the multifaceted nature of Indian society and its various family arrangements.

 

CONCLUSION

 Few scholars have criticized him for misjudging traditional societies’ extended joint family structures as nuclear ones.

However his studies have encouraged scholars to reassess assumptions about family dynamics acknowledging that nuclear families co-existed with extended ones in traditional India.  


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