At the beginning of the 1980's the historiographical methods of the 'Annales' school (a variety of approaches to the history of mentalities) were adopted by medievalists in the Low Countries, as exemplified by the work of Rudi Kunzel. Kunzel artfully clarifies the general from the specific and integrates models and structures into his own narrative approach. This way of doing historical anthropology will become obsolete in the future. Fundamental changes in contemporary society will intensely influence the exercise of the discipline. The increasing emphasis on profit will encourage historians to produce best sellers. Large-scale methods to disseminate information electronically will lead to a more project-oriented approach. Rather than having the problem of insufficient information, its abundance will lead to fragmentary approaches.