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By Morgan Round Review of Just Like Family: How Companion Animals Joined the Household by Andrea Laurent-Simpson (2021). NYU Press. (298 Pages) This book is about a particular kind of family, the American "Multispecies" family. Andrea Laurent-Simpson illuminates the multispecies family, how common it is today, and how it is constantly growing, not to mention thriving in todays society in the United States. The author discusses the roll of dogs and cats in what she refers to the "multispecies family," where dogs and cats are identified and treated as legitimate members of the household. The Ultimate goal of Just Like Family was to demonstrate how the multispecies family has developed in the context of many different family structures within the United States. Andrea Laurent-Simpson is currently a lecturer in the department of Sociology at Southern Methodist University. She also has written various academic journals over the last 5 years. (2016-2021). Andrea Laurent-Simpson has had her own personal experiences with both a childfree multispecies family and a multispecies family with young children present. In addition to her personal experience, the author conducted her own personal studies, which consisted of personal in-depth interviews and close personal observation with 35 different participants that are owners of dogs and cats. The participants come from a multitude of different family structures. The family structures included traditional two parent groups with young children, single mother/single fathers, singles, empty-nesters, step families, and families without children. The families without children fall into two different groups; the first group chose not to have children and the second group tried having kids with no success. The author also conduced veterinary clinic observations. With all of this evidence, she proves to be a trustworthy and dependable source. This book is organized into 5 different chapters and each chapter covers the different aspects of the multispecies family. Chapter 1 covers and explains what the multispecies family is today and how the multispecies family has evolved since the industrial revolution. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 discuss the different family identities involved with the multispecies families. The different family identities discussed in these chapters consisted of the role humans take on as parents to their companion animals. In chapter 3 and 4, Laurent-Simpson discussed the parent roles that her participants experienced and how their surrounding family verified their own parent identities. Chapter 5 discusses how advertising is also changing to appeal to the multispecies family members. I feel that this book was layed out in a easy to follow, smooth flowing order. One of the themes that stuck out to me was the vast amounts of family dynamics mentioned throughout Just Like Family. Americans today now largely accept many kinds of living arrangements as "family," without one true family form accepted over other family forms. Laurent-Simpson does a fantastic job explaining this new existence of a unique family structure known as the multispecies family. She also does a great job in explaining the various different family identities that the multispecies family can have and how it has only seemed to emerge within the last 50 years in the United States. She dives deep into the personal interviews, explaining what she learned, and describing how each family dynamic functions on a day to day basis. The author describes how increasing family diversity now includes the multispecies family, in which the dog or cat is labeled as an actual family member and is treated as a person would be. Since the industrial revolution things have dramatically changed within our society, such as the control of infectious diseases with antibiotics, sustained standard of living, and innovations in sanitation. Laurent-Simpson adds quotes throughout the book from the many participants she interviewed closely allowing readers to gain personal insight into individuals' point of view on their multispecies family. Identity theory is also a major theme throughout this book. With this new and unique family structure, it requires you, as a reader, to think critically about this dynamic of family. The identities of the multispecies family include statuses such as parent, child, grand-parents, and siblings. Laurent-Simpson shows that the multispecies family is a separate type of family structure, in which, identities that are normally assigned to humans are instead assigned to dogs and cats. Essentially, the multispecies family creates a new, non-traditional definition of family that impact how family can be done. The author states: "Role identities are important because they "give the very meaning to our daily routine . . . [and] largely determine our interpretations of the situations, vents, and other people that we encounter. This information is an important component of any social situation, but the conglomeration of role identities in the family sphere can tell us much about how family relationships are structured." (Andrea Laurent-Simpson; 2021, pg. 63) The author also touches on how these patterns have become widespread enough in the United States in the past few decades to now include dogs and cats as family members, and given the vast family dynamics you encounter may be internalized or assigned based on whatever family dynamic that may be at hand. Another theme that I found interesting was that strategically through the book Laurent-Simpson incorporated photos of the participants and their companion animals. I found this effective in appealing to my emotions and it made me think about my animals involved in my multispecies family. I also thought this was effective, from my perspective, as being a dog owner. In using these pictures it allowed me to relate and see that having animals as family members is a very common occurance. The author incorporated the pictures and in doing so accomplished a feeling of relatability to the individuals that participated in her research. Just Like Family did a great job displaying and explaining all the research she conducted on all of her participants in this book. I feel, Laurent-Simpson had such a vast amount of information from her research that each family structure could not be explained in just one chapter. I think, the vast amount of research done on each family dynamic, it could be enough content for a separate shorter length book on each separate family configuration. Just Like Family is a very well written work. Laurent-Simpson does a great job explaining what the multispecies family is today. She also articulates the many different family dynamics involved in the multispecies family. The author provided mass amounts of research and throughout the book she shows how thorough she was in her research. She incorporates many different scholars and how they offered their advice and expertise throughout the book. As a reader, you are shown throughout the book how common the multispecies family is today in the United States. Also, Laurent-Simpson stresses the importance of identity theory and how we, as a society, have a need to label our specific identity in a family dynamic. This book will make you think about human nature, why some of us feel the need to have companion animals, as well as to realize that not all humans see companion animals as family members, as equals, or as human beings themselves. Just Like Family has made me consider a person's upbringing and incorporate cultural reasons into why someone decides to have a companion animal in their household. This book is a very respectful representation of companion animals and shows how many family dynamics include their companion animals as equals as well as family members. Just Like Family would be highly recommended for college level students, a sociology course, veterinarians and vet techs, anyone that is passionate about human animal relationships(with and without companion animals), and finally anyone pursuing a career involving work with animals. Author Bio: Morgan Round is currently a student at Minnesota State University Mankato, and she has been incarcerated at MCF-Shakopee for 1 year. She Enrolled in this program to utilize her time and earn credentials. She is 23 years old and is from the Rochester, MN area; she is forever grateful for this MNSU opportunity, and plans to continue her education post incarceration. Comments are closed.
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This is a website about nonhuman animals, written by human animals taking a Society and Animals class at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Archives
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