In the field of primary relationships much has changed during the last few decades. Existing living forms changed their content and many new types, such as cohabitation, LAT-relationships and living groups, were created. More and more people are shaping their own way of living. Only for a diminishing part of the population does the standard life-cycle still count, i.e. the more or less predictable succession of living at the parents home, getting married, getting children, letting the children go and staying behind as widow or widower.

This dissertation deals with one of these alternative types of living: the living group and the cohousing group. In a first part these social experiments are put into a larger historical context. It also lists a few important social and demographic changes that made its appearance possible. I will describe in short the history of both living groups and cohousing groups here as well.

In the nineteen sixties a new lifestyle, the commune, emerged out of the framework of the student movement in both the United States and Western Europe. The communes justified themselves ideologically as an alternative to the bourgois family, condemned as an instrument of oppression. After the 'Roaring Sixties' the number of communal households increased rapidly, but they gave up the radical ideology. They came to see themselves as a practical way of living with no need for legitimation at all. This 'normalisation' was reflected in the change of terminoly from 'commune' to 'woongroep', the Dutch word which literally means 'living group', but is best translated as 'communal household'.

Cohousing (Dutch: 'Centraal Wonen') first became an alternative housing model beginning in the early 1970's. By the end of the 1980's Denmark was home to over 120 cohousing communities. Emerging from a growing awareness that traditional housing types were not meeting the needs of their occupants, the cohousing concept spawned a new generation of thinking. Communities were being designed and built by their future inhabitants. One of the main components of cohousing is that individuals are active participants in the design process. Other key features include a common house with shared kitchen facilities, evening meals in a dining hall, shared laundry facilities, children's play rooms, and workshops.

The second part of this dissertation is the result of a conversation I had with six members of a living group. In the third chapter I elaborate on a few definitions that exist on living groups and also describe a few characteristics of contemporary groups. I will give a basic definition on living groups here, containing the aspects were most authors agree on.

A communal household is a group of at least three adults with or without children living together in the same house and having meals together for at least twice a week; the adult members have no kinship ties or other institutional relationships and they are free to leave the group or to choose new members. In the literature these groups are referred to as 'commune', 'communal household', 'multi-adult household', 'collective', and so on; in Dutch mostly 'woongroep', sometimes 'leefgemeenschap' or 'woongemeenschap'; in German 'Wohngemeinschaft', 'Wohnkollektiv' and 'Wohngruppe'; in French 'Communauté'.

In a last chapter I discuss a few aspects closely related to these types of living, such as the division of tasks in the household, the degree in which property belongs to the community, the upbringing of children and decision-making.

Finally, the epilogue presents some thoughts on cohousing and living groups in relation to emancipation, hyper-individualism, solitude and communication.