The family today is no longer the unit of economic production that it once was. When our society was predominantly rural, both h

The family today is no longer the unit of economic production that it once was. When our society was predominantly rural, both husband and wife produced goods of (36) economic value that could either be sold or be used by the family. Equally important, there was no (37) separation of home and work, the home was also the business. In the early stages of (38) urbanization, when many people worked in their homes and sold their wares in home front shops, much the same was true. However, once the (39) predominant pattern began to be to work outside the home, as it certainly has been during much of the 20th century, the importance of the family as a unit of economic production (40) declined. One effort of this is that the economic meaning of divorce changed. Under the old pattern, a divorce meant not only a disruption of the family but also the (41) termination of a productive business. Today, it no longer has that meaning, and thus one major disincentive to divorce has been eliminated.
    A closely related reason for today’s higher (42) divorce rate appears to be that people expect more of their marriages. When the family was in part an economic unit, there was less (43) emphasis on its socio-emotional role. (44) A husband and wife were frequently willing to settle for a relationship, which was less than satisfying emotionally, (45) as long as each partner was doing his or her share of the work and contributing to a reasonably secure home environment.
    Even the motion of romantic love is fairly recent. (46) The notion of romantic love as the ideal in marriage has gradually become more important.