Explaining generational transformations of kinship relationships in the households of Qazvin's Hesar Kharvan Village in the past half century

The procedure of modernization has caused economic, political and cultural changes and increased the extent of the individualization. Consequently, personal life has become a matter of choice and personal plans. These changes are not endemic in the urban centers; indeed, rural communities have also been affected so as the familial relationships in rural communities are now out of the control of social obligatory norms and turn into an optional action. Even though, Islamic values highly encourage the relationship with the kin and discourage breaking with them. This paper studies the changes in familial relationships in a rural community and tries to delineate the factors affecting them. Hesar Kharvan village in Qazvin province was selected to examine two families over three generations in terms of relationships. To do this, the life history method was used to study the evolution of family relationship with a retrospective approach. The results indicate that the political changes along with economic and social change, have been effective in these transformations. These political and social changes in the country since last few decades caused a significant decrease in Hesar Kharvan Village family relationships. This situation has brought about such consequences as the spread of individualism, the importance of money and luxuries, the importance of personal decisions, decreased cooperation, aspiration for communication with the people in urban areas, lack of attention to indigenous knowledge, reduce of the paternal authority, and little attention to the elderly in the family.