> The family was for a long time the safety net for people Almost, but not quite right, in an important way. The family was for a long time the safety net for

> The family was for a long time the safety net for people Almost, but not quite right, in an important way. The family was for a long time the safety net for people who had a safety net. There may not have alternate safety nets, sure, but it doesn’t follow that family was always a safety net. Many people just ended up with no safety net. The same occurs today—we may have alternate safety nets, which is good, but it doesn’t make families any more or less reliable than before.