ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the "pessimist" perspective in terms of the future of the family and describes the "glad it changed" position and contrasts it to the "pessimist" position. It applies several continua in a macro-sociological analysis of family change and describes a variety of roles that family researchers can play. It also able to speculate about the future of the family in American and the world. Fewer Americans live by themselves today than at any other time in American history. The United States is considered to be behind many other industrialized nations with respect to family policy. The federal government determines most marriage and divorce laws.
