A Sociological View Point of College Girls Regarding Changes in the Family.

Higher Education is the most powerful determent of family change. Within the family a woman's education can change not only her own life but life of the whole family. Educational achievement is positively correlated with family life. Family is a basic integral unit of a social structure. It is a primary group. Family is the main source of nurturance, emotional bonding and socialization. It also provides health, education, protection, etc. The structure of a family is related to role, responsibility and power. The Indian family system is in transitional stage today. There are many factors for changing family life i.e. industrialization, modernization, westernization, mass media and education, etc. Among these, higher education is a powerful agent of social change. There are different theories of family and social change. The Indian family is by and large patrichal in structure. The roles as well as responsibility of men and women are different. In India, daily activities of family members are different from one generation to another. This study is based on changes in family life of college girls in Ahmedabad. The main objective of this paper is to know family background of the respondents and to know the changes of family life due to their higher education. Daily life of three generations in the family - grandmother, mother and the respondent - is examined in this study. 480 college girls are selected from one college of Ahmedabad. Questionnaire is used for data collection. The paper is divided in four parts; first part shows family structure and social change and higher education. Second part is on methodology. Third part is on data analysis and the fourth part shows main findings and conclusions of the study. The paper includes various theories and concepts of sociology, i.e., family, education, change, power, status, role, generation, etc. The result indicates that higher education plays an important role in changing family life of people. The result also shows that there is a difference between daily activities and leisure time, amongst the three generations. The study concludes with some important remarks and suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]