Question

Which of the following statement(s) correctly represent(s) A.M. Shah’s views in his ‘The Household Dimension of the Family in India’?

• A. Indological conceptions of the ‘Indian joint family’ have become an obstacle to sociological investigation of the familial structure and transformation.
• B. Household and family are two different, though related, categories.
• C. The process of modernisation will break the traditional Indian joint family into nuclear families.
• D. The classification of the households into ‘simple’ and ‘complex’ resolves the existing confusing classification of ‘elementary’ and ‘joint’ family.

Hint:

A.M. Shah emphasised empirical study of households rather than relying solely on normative ideas of the ‘Indian joint family’.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A, B

Step 1: Core concern of A.M. Shah.
A.M. Shah critically examined the dominance of Indological notions of the Indian joint family and argued that such ideas often obscure empirical sociological analysis of actual living arrangements.
Step 2: Explanation of correct statements.
Option (A): Shah explicitly argued that Indological constructions of the joint family hinder sociological investigation of family change and diversity.
Option (B): He made a clear analytical distinction between household (a residential unit) and family (a kinship unit), while acknowledging their interrelationship.
Step 3: Elimination of incorrect statements.
Option (C): Shah rejected the deterministic view that modernisation necessarily leads to the breakdown of joint families into nuclear families.
Option (D): While Shah proposed classifications of households, he did not claim that the simple–complex typology fully resolves earlier conceptual confusions.
Step 4: Conclusion.
Thus, statements (A) and (B) correctly represent A.M. Shah’s views.