The Value of Marriage

      Back then marriage was valued and people took it seriously. Couples stayed together out of love and commitment, the only way you would see couples really divorce would be because either the man or the woman acted out infidelity in the marriage and even then couples will still try to work it out. In the 1950s marriage consisted of "the husband being the man of the house, going to work to make the finances for his family and the household. While the wives stayed at home and cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children". During those times the divorce rate was 23 percent. It was so low because of people felt that getting a divorce will make them look like a "failure and divorce was regarded as deviant behavior".
  
  In today's society marriage is just a piece of paper to some, it holds no meaning, especially to young people to rush to get married. When being married you usually see that both the wife and the husband have to work in order to support their family financially. Also the time frame of when marriage is to happen has changed as well, back then people got married right after high school, but todays parents tell their kids to get married after college. The divorce rate today is about 50 percent.
 
  Today, most people get married just to say they "did it", to use marriage as a reason to have sex, or because they think they have falling in love, not because two people share the same values, not because they have spent most of their life just in a relationship with them trying to get to know them. Since the value of marriage has changed so has the divorce rate, the U.S. divorce rate in the fourth highest in the world, because of theses causes: "Individualism is on the rise, romantic love fades, women are less dependent on men, many of today's marriages are stressful, divorce has become socially acceptable, and legally, a divorce is easier to get". Looking at how marriage was view back then and looking at how marriage is viewed today, you can see the big gap of difference, you can see how the society has values of more so materialistic things instead of valuing more important things like marriage. According to ypulse.com parents aren't included as much as they used to be, dating is more autonomous, independent, and liberated, meaning that usually whoever you are dating, you bring them around your family for approval but now you barely see people do that because if their parents don't approve, their relationship will still continue. Even celebrities barely value marriage for example, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries got a divorce, when they were only married for 72 days, which kind of put out this picture to society that getting a divorce faster than you got married or just getting married just because is becoming a social norm.

http://www.thescribeonline.com/knightlife/the-value-of-marriage-then-and-now-1.2725302#.UyzDE3Tn9Ms
http://www.ypulse.com/post/view/relationships-then-and-now-changes-in-social-values-change-the-dating-scene