Community & Empathy

"Humans have spent most of the past 150,000 years living in multi-generational, multi-family groups. These relatively small tribes were characterized by rich human interactions that aren't present in developed Western societies. In these clans, the ratio of mature individuals to young children was roughly 4:1. That is, there were four caregiving individuals for every little one. Fathers, sisters, uncles, older cousins, aunties, and other kin surrounded children - and all of them could educate, discipline, nurture, and enrich. Two parents, many caregivers. That enriched social environment is what our brains expects."
"In the modern era, however, the relational milieu has collapsed. In 1850, the average household size in the West was six people - today it's three or fewer. A full quarter of Americans live completely alone. Hours and hours of television, educational ratios of 1:30 in school classrooms, mobile families, transient communities, nuclear families, broken families - all have contributed to reductions in the number and quality of relationships available to young children at the age when their relational needs are highest. Indeed, we now consider a ratio of one daycare worker to five children adequate! That is one-twentieth of the relational richness of a 'natural' hunter-gatherer setting."

-Introduction from Born For Love, why empathy is essential - and endangered.