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The Future of Marriage and Family 399

Sociology and the New Technology

“How Should We Handle Family Disagreements?” Use Your App
amilies are messy. Family members are constantly So they tried the program at home. From the initial re-
negotiating with one another—from who does what task ports, those who are successful
Fto how to settle disagreements. What is worked out one
day can fall apart the next. From the pleasures of satisfaction 1. Start with the assumption that teams require teamwork.
to the bitterness of Because successful teams aren’t dominated by a single
disappointment; from leader, the parents are
love and consideration guides, not dictators.
to selfishness and 2. Empower the children.
spite; from lifelong The children set weekly
commitment to lifetime goals and pick their
divorce—these are what own rewards and pun-
families are made of. ishments for meeting
We want success. or not meeting them.
For school, we do our 3. Develop morning
homework and prepare checklists.
for tests. At work, we im- 4. Build in flexibility.
prove our skills and try to Situations change, but
please others. But when they keep each family
it comes to the family, member accountable.
we largely assume that it 5. Hold weekly family
will take care of itself. meetings. They ask
But then comes the what went well during
inevitable in our tech- the week, what didn’t
nological, software- go well, and, after dis-
driven society. Some Throughout history, technology has had an impact on families. Today is no cussion, agree on two
exception.
families have begun to things to improve dur-
use software to coordinate ing the coming week.
activities, to solve problems, and, in general, to tidy up the
messiness of families. For Your Consideration
They are using a program called Agile Development, ↑ Small teams are one of the more successful techniques
software that was developed to manage small teams at for organizing work. As we discussed in Chapter 5, small
work (Feiler 2013). Agile provides a way to organize daily teams give group members a sense of belonging and im-
progress sessions and weekly reviews. As some saw how prove productivity. What do you think about organizing the
effective the software was at work, they began to think “If family into a small team? Do you think that using software
the members of our family were broken into teams, and we to manage the family is a wave of the future, or just a little
had progress sessions and reviews. . . .” passing fad? Why?

We can get a glimpse of the future by considering trends that are firmly in
place. Cohabitation, births to single women, and the age at first marriage will
increase. As more married women join the workforce, wives will continue to
gain marital power. As the number of elderly increase, more couples will find
themselves sandwiched between caring for their parents and rearing their own
children.
Our culture will continue to be haunted by distorted images of marriage and family:
the bleak ones portrayed in the mass media and the rosy ones perpetuated by cultural
myths. Sociological research can help correct these distortions and allow us to see how
our own family experiences fit into the patterns of our culture. Sociological research can
also help to answer the big question: How do we formulate social policies that support
and enhance the quality of family life?