Family change,caste, and the elderly in a rural locale in Nepal

This study reports research conducted in a rural Nepalese Hindu Community to examine three questions: (1) the nature of family structure of the elderly roughly 4 decades ago; (2) whether the family structure at that time was the same for high and low castes; and (3) whether the past situation differs from that today. Four decades ago 78% of elderly high caste males were living in the ideal Hindu joint family structure compared with only 24% of the low castes. Today just 50% of the high castes and 42% of the low castes live in joint families. The difference in the past derives from access to and control over economic resources. Economic changes since 1950 have increased access to economic resources and altered the family structure of the high castes but not the low castes.This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (BNS82-19188), the National Geographic Society (2641-83), and the American Federation for Aging Research. A version of this paper was presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the The American Anthropological Association, December 1985.