The Place and Effect of Animals in Families
Authors: Doré Antoine , Michalon Jérôme , Líbano Monteiro Teresa , Baslyk Valentina 
Published: September 2019

Research Framework :
The general challenge and originality of this thematic issue
of the journal
Enfances Familles Générations
consists in jointly exploring two major social
transformations brought about by the integration of animals into families :
the first transformation being in human families and the second in
human-animal relationships.

Objectives :
The purpose of this introduction to the thematic issue "The
Place and Impact of Animals in Families" is to present the current state of
knowledge on the subject, by characterizing the approaches taken and
identifying blind spots and how to address them.

Methodology :
The article is based on a review of the literature and an
analysis of approximately 100 English- and French-language publications in
the social sciences and humanities that focus on the place and effect of
animals in families.

Results :
The first part of the article is devoted to an analytical
presentation of the literature. Three principal methods of integrating
animals into families can be identified in the works studied : integration,
assimilation and substitution. In addition, two types of approaches have
been favoured to date on how to understand the family in its relationship
with animals : "fixist" and flexible. The second part of the article
develops a critical analysis of this research. We show that, taken as a
whole, these studies generate a
naturalization
effect of the very specific zoological, sociological and
spatio-temporal realities studied. We show that this naturalization is
linked to the ill-considered use of certain semantic categories ("companion
animal," "family pet" or simply "pet")
1
. It is also linked to particular systems for the production
of sociological knowledge on the place of animals in families (based in part
on data provided by key players in the pet industry, or created on a
pointedly moral foundation).

Conclusions :
The article underlines the need to develop and implement a
genuine sociology of family/animal relationships that, on the one hand, more
candidly assumes the implicit biases that have guided research to date (a
clear positioning in relation to the three methods of integrating animals
into families), and on the other hand seeks to denaturalize the categories
it uses while questioning the knowledge systems within which it is
embedded.

Contribution :
Beyond a critical and problematized interpretation of the
literature, this article outlines several lines of research that aim to
complete and rebalance the particular image that the current literature on
the dynamics of integrating animals into the family provides. Five lines are
identified : (1) the symbolic construction of the integration of animals
into the family (artistic and media representations, construction of
categories) ; (2) the physical conditions of this integration (role of
technical objects, markets) ; (3) the role of animals in the construction of
the identity and socialization of families ; (4) the uses of learned and
secular discourses on animal families to define and legitimize a model of
human families ; (5) a sociological redefinition of the family, taking into
account the different types of animal integration.