ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the community affects spousal relations mainly through spousal interdependence. The key finding that emerges from the data is that the structure and functioning of the community have an important impact on the spousal relationship—interdependence, the balance of power, and the sense of marital stability. The community's codes, values, resources, and procedures are relevant to all stages of marital life: mate selection, fertility, spousal relationships, and the maintenance of stability. Marriage in the moshav constitutes a prerequisite for joining the community. The chapter presents a comparative analysis of marriage patterns in two unique, long-standing, and close-knit communities in Israel—the kibbutz and the moshav. The kibbutz serves as a "laboratory" for the examination of some postindustrial family issues. Marriage dissolution in the moshav affects various aspects of life: the economic dimension constitutes a weighty impediment since it is legally impossible to divide the farm and the property.
