Caste, class and family structure in West Bengal villages

This paper examines the influences of caste and class status on family structure in rural India. Analysis of the data collected from three villages of the West Bengal state in India shows that caste status continues to be significantly related to the family structure. However, class status whether based on occupation or landownership - has a stronger and statistically more significant relationship with family structure. Further analysis of the data shows that both occupational classes and caste structure are strongly related to landownership and also show statistically significant relationship with each other. It appears that it is because of their strong relationship with landownership, occupational classes and caste structure maintain significant relationships with family structure.