NCERT Book Class 6 Social Science Family and Community PDF Download

Chapter 9: Family and Community

Love and dharma are the flower and fruit of family life.

- Tiruvalluvar

The Big Questions

1. Why is the family unit important?
2. What is a community and what is its role?

Family

Almost all of us live in a family. The family is the fundamental and most ancient unit of any society. In Indian society today, there are several types of families - from joint families to nuclear families. A joint family has several generations living together - grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, brothers, sisters and cousins. A nuclear family, on the other hand, is limited to a couple and their children, and sometimes one parent and children.

[Figure: Examples of joint families, See in your textbook]

[Figure: Examples of nuclear families, See in your textbook]

Let's Explore

• What types of families do you see in your neighbourhood? List the type with the number of households for each type.
• What types are more frequent? Why do you think this is so?
• As a class activity, compare with your classmates' findings and discuss.

In English, there are not many terms to describe family relationships; we saw some of them in the first paragraph. Indian languages have many more terms. For example, in Hindi there is bua, tau, tai, chacha, mausi, nana, nani, and many more. Some languages, such as Tamil, also have different terms for elder brother / sister or younger brother / sister. But what is the word for 'cousin' in an Indian language? In most Indian languages, you will find that there is no such word! That is because cousins are only 'brothers' and 'sisters'. This emphasises the deep bonds among all the children in the family.

Teacher's Note

Notice how language reflects family values. When a language calls all cousins 'brothers' and 'sisters' instead of having a separate word, it shows that the culture sees all children in an extended family as equally close. This is a clue to understanding how different societies value different relationships.

Let's Explore

• Make a list of all the members of your family you can think of, including a few distant relatives. List their terms in your mother tongue or regional language and try to find the equivalent in English. Two examples are below for Hindi:

• Notice how, quite often, a single word in your mother tongue or regional language requires several words in English to give a precise definition.

Roles and Responsibilities

Relationships among family members are based on love, care, cooperation and interdependence. 'Cooperation' means 'working together'. Each member of the family has a role and responsibility towards other members. For instance, parents are responsible for raising their children to become happy individuals and responsible members of the society. But also, as children grow up, they take on more responsibilities in the home to help other family members - whether parents or a sister or a brother, etc. Through daily practice, children learn to participate in the life of the household. In many homes, children also learn some of the traditions and practices their family has been following for generations.

Teacher's Note

Remember that responsibility in a family is two-way. Parents have responsibilities to their children, but as you grow older, you also have responsibilities toward them and other family members. This is what 'interdependence' means - everyone depends on everyone else.

Key Points

• A family is the basic unit of society, and in India there are two main types: joint families with multiple generations living together, and nuclear families with parents and children only.
• Indian languages have many more words for family relationships than English, and some languages do not even have a separate word for cousin because cousins are considered brothers and sisters.
• Family life is based on love, care, cooperation and interdependence, where each member has roles and responsibilities toward the others.
• Children learn important lessons about family life and traditions through their daily participation in household activities and through helping other family members.

This is a preview of the first 3 pages. To get the complete chapter, click below.