Article Title: Urbanization and Its Impact on Family: A Survey of People Migrated in Last Twenty Years, From Rural Area to be Settled in Karachi
Author(s): Naila Usman Siddiqui, Sobia Shahzad, Nabeel Zubairi and Kauser Ishaq,
University: Department of Sociology, University of Karachi
Journal: Bahria Journal of Professional Psychology, July 2012, Vol-11, 2, 4-31
Abstract
This study examines opinions and practices of families; migrating from rural Pakistan to get settled in Karachi. The main objective of this study was to observe the shift in family type; i.e. from extended or joint to nuclear family system, patterns of decision making authority among husband and wife, economic satisfaction over time and education of children. Sample of 115 families was selected; out of 115, 60 families migrated from rural area to Karachi 20 years back while 55 families migrated in last 10 or 15 years. Basic assumption of this study was to check impact of urbanization on these families. Urbanization is the movement of people from rural areas to cities and from small cities to larger ones (Spencer, 1990). Sociologist Louis Wirth (1928, 1938) argued that a relatively large and permanent settlement leads to distinctive pattern of behaviour, which he called urbanism (Schaefer, 1999). Findings of the study showed a slight shift in the type of family from extended to nuclear and in satisfaction with the economic condition. No significant shift was observed in patterns of decision-making authority of husband. Instead, more than half of the migrated respondents admitted having egalitarian authority and decision making shared by both husband and wife.
KeyWords: Urbanization, Urbanism, Type of family, Decision-making authority, economic satisfaction, child education.
