Ecoexpansive Kinship: A Model for Expanding Conceptualizations of Family to Include Non-Human Animals

Non-human animals have long been embedded in society, and are well-documented as integrated into people’s lives and families. However, researchers and practitioners inconsistently incorporate pets, or companion animals, into conceptualizations of family despite growing empirical evidence of the substantive impact of pets in people’s lives. To more accurately capture people’s lived realities of pets as family members, we advance a model of “ecoexpansive kinship,” which validates expansive family forms and functions (Bowen, 1978) across multiple levels of social ecological influence (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). To illustrate our model’s applicability, we explore key definitions, and then outline major theoretical foundations and applications of pets research to demonstrate both the theoretical significance and empirical reality of where non-human animal kinship fits into family dynamics. An ecoexpansive kinship approach can promote more conceptual, cohesive theorization of how to holistically model kinship to be inclusive of non-human animals that can be applied across research and practice.