While social construction of illness research has examined the redefinition of medically defined illness as non‐illness by laypersons, nothing has considered this process alongside emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Using Gidden's notion of modern risk society and distrust in expert authority, this paper examines how social media posts construct Zika virus as nonhazardous while displaying a distrust in research and prevention. Using qualitative content analysis, we examine 801 posts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Facebook page to highlight the interplay between risk, the social construction of Zika and trust in experts. Three themes are discussed, including Zika: (i) as legitimate public health threat; (ii) as product of CDC corruption and (iii) used to question medical expertise. We find the latter two themes supportive of Gidden's focus on risk and distrust in expert authority and discuss the danger of constructing EIDs as products of corrupt expert authority on public health social media platforms.
This article argues that for some who are childfree, the increasing perception of the companion animal as a sentient being with agency provides a deep, meaningful relationship with the power to inform fertility intentions. Qualitative, in-depth interviews with childfree companion animal owners reveal that this relationship serves to reinforce previous fertility choices such as delaying or completely opting out of childbirth, thus affecting present household structure. This is reflected in the active choice by some participants to have companion animals instead of human children, the presence of a cost-benefit analysis concerning animal companions and human children, and narratives that express a desire to mother or nurture as fulfilled in the relationship with the companion animal. Implications of these findings for both demography and marriage and family research in the United States are discussed.
Identity theory posits that role identity is negotiated between human social actors and is based in broader cultural expectations about how particular statuses should be performed. I argue that the formation of role identity in actors can also occur in relationship to nonhuman actors, if they are perceived as minded. Depending on context and human perception, identity can be formed as a result of interaction and developing “theory of mind” with nonhuman animals, directly implicating the animal. Using in‐depth interviews of childless and childfree companion animal owners, I demonstrate the existence of a parent identity in childless participants that would not otherwise be present were it not for interaction with the animal “child.” This identity is confirmed in participant narratives describing substantial behavioral output aligned with the U.S. cultural ideal of “parent.” Likewise, I find that significant others provide external support for the enactment of this role identity, allowing participants to verify self‐in‐situation. Overall, my analysis emphasizes the importance of considering nonhuman sources as occupying counterstatus positions in the formation of role identity while highlighting how these relationships affect interaction in the childfree and childless home, thus expanding scholarly understanding about both identity formation and emerging family types.
From the childfree and childless who nurture their dogs and cats similarly to a child to the grandparents who support them to children who view their animals as siblings and empty nesters who think of themselves as caretakers, it is clear that family structure—and who is part of that—has increasingly diversified in the United States since the 1970s. This book explores the ways in which family has changed to include companion animals as bona fide members with distinctly human identities. Using identity theory and the second demographic transition as a foundation, the author uses mixed methods to analyze thirty-five original in-depth interviews and over one hundred hours of fieldwork to show how the modern multispecies family has moved from thinking of companion animals as family entertainment to embracing them as genuine family members with needs and desires to be considered alongside other, human members of the family. The author also shows that the multispecies family has transcended from micro-level perceptions of kinship to macro-level, cultural shifts that acknowledge it as a legitimate family form. Content analysis of print advertisements reveals how the $72 billion pet-product industry has reproduced and reinforced the multispecies family as one with distinct needs, challenges, and relationships. The book underscores the necessity for mainstream family scholarship to take up the multispecies family as a new, nontraditional family type that has evolved in the same historical context as single-parent families, grandparent families, and cohabitation while encouraging identity theory to move beyond anthropocentric paradigms.
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