The Place and Effect of Animals in Families

Research Framework : The general challenge and originality of this thematic issueof the journal Enfances Familles Générations consists in jointly exploring two major socialtransformations brought about by the integration of animals into families :the first transformation being in human families and the second inhuman-animal relationships.Objectives : The purpose of this introduction to the thematic issue "ThePlace and Impact of Animals in Families" is to present the current state ofknowledge on the subject, by characterizing the approaches taken andidentifying blind spots and how to address them.Methodology : The article is based on a review of the literature and ananalysis of approximately 100 English- and French-language publications inthe social sciences and humanities that focus on the place and effect ofanimals in families.Results : The first part of the article is devoted to an analyticalpresentation of the literature. Three principal methods of integratinganimals into families can be identified in the works studied : integration,assimilation and substitution. In addition, two types of approaches havebeen favoured to date on how to understand the family in its relationshipwith animals : "fixist" and flexible. The second part of the articledevelops a critical analysis of this research. We show that, taken as awhole, these studies generate a naturalization effect of the very specific zoological, sociological andspatio-temporal realities studied. We show that this naturalization islinked to the ill-considered use of certain semantic categories ("companionanimal," "family pet" or simply "pet")1 . It is also linked to particular systems for the productionof sociological knowledge on the place of animals in families (based in parton data provided by key players in the pet industry, or created on apointedly moral foundation).Conclusions : The article underlines the need to develop and implement agenuine sociology of family/animal relationships that, on the one hand, morecandidly assumes the implicit biases that have guided research to date (aclear positioning in relation to the three methods of integrating animalsinto families), and on the other hand seeks to denaturalize the categoriesit uses while questioning the knowledge systems within which it isembedded.Contribution : Beyond a critical and problematized interpretation of theliterature, this article outlines several lines of research that aim tocomplete and rebalance the particular image that the current literature onthe dynamics of integrating animals into the family provides. Five lines areidentified : (1) the symbolic construction of the integration of animalsinto the family (artistic and media representations, construction ofcategories) ; (2) the physical conditions of this integration (role oftechnical objects, markets) ; (3) the role of animals in the construction ofthe identity and socialization of families ; (4) the uses of learned andsecular discourses on animal families to define and legitimize a model ofhuman families ; (5) a sociological redefinition of the family, taking intoaccount the different types of animal integration.