As a result of the insecure life span during earlier generations, people were forced to join a community such as family, a household, a cloister or military community. These were the centers of stability that provided at least some protection against the life-threatening effects of plague-hunger-war.

'Due to the fundamental change from the insecure to a relatively secure life time, as we have it now, we are no longer forced to join the "bad old communities" with their mutual responsibilities just for survival reasons. We can if we wish - and more and more do - put our EGO in the center, knitting only loose connections with our contemporaries within a modern society. Most of us can nowadays economically afford all the life supporting services provided by that society.

Source: CD-ROM Historical Demography (1995), Fig. 72b.