THE POPULATION of India is made up of an infinite variety of castes, religions, and language groups, which have lived side by side, in an intricate division of labour, for thousands of years. Many customs, and much of the social structure, historically isolated from modern technological and industrial developments, have remained essentially the same. Such deeply laid patterns of behaviour do not respond easily to change.

This study analyses one of the Hindu structures-the family-which is considered by sociologists to be very resistant to change. Its purpose is to show the effect of industrial and technological change on the traditional middle- and upper-class urban Hindu family. In doing so, it will attempt to develop a sounder theoretical framework within which the many dimensions of family change can be studied.

Up to the present, apart from a few novels and sociological studies of urban life, it has been the traditional rural joint family which has occupied the attention of students and writers. However, it is the middle- and upper-class urban families which are facing the full impact of the rapidly changing conditions which have accompanied India's growing industrialization.

Aileen D. Ross is a member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at McGill University.

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"Dr. Ross deserves congratulations for this study on the urban Hindu family. Indian social scientists will be especially grateful to her for blazing a new trail … her research has not only broken new ground in the field of dynamics of family change, but also has provided a highly suggestive, interpretative, base for future follow-up studies." International Journal of Comparative Sociology

"An excellent piece of research ... To the student of sociology as well as to the planners of development of this country, this book is a must. It goes without saying that no library can do without it. To the general reader, this presents in an easily digestible form an intensely complex subject and gives him the assistance of a bibliography should he be interested in pursuing the subject further on his own." Bharat Jyoti (Bombay)

"Dr. Ross has provided a much-needed addition to the sociology and social anthropology of India through a highly perceptive analysis of the social position of one hundred and fifty-seven families living in Bangalore ... For the ground studied we are given a clear and detailed statement of household arrangements, kinship obligations (including those connected with family authority), the emotive tone of family life, work, education, friendship, and marriage patterns. The most enlightening section is probably that which covers the commitment of the family to work." Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science