the term “unc” (uncle) has become ubiquitous online. famously, levi-strauss focused on the uncle as a map for the family system in various cultures in the aptly titled “problem of the avunculate”. basically, the uncle as a figure uniquely has a relationship to all members of a family system: the husband, wife, and their child - yet, he is not part of the nuclear family itself, so his place in it is unclear. “the problem of the avunculate” models that the uncle can be one of two things (to the child): feared and obeyed unquestioningly (not someone you are close with), or someone to have a joking informal close relationship with (this is clearly the sense in which the term “unc” is used). this relationship, in his view, surveying different cultures, mapped over the nuclear family relationships and in a sense was a logical follow through of how the family relationships were structured. its a kind of key to all the other relationships: for example, if the father and child typically have a harmonious relationship, the (maternal) uncle relationship will be distant. if a culture has a distant relationship between father and child, the relationship with the (maternal) uncle will be harmonious - one characterized by a joking informal closeness, as i would say is the type of relationship implied by the term “unc”: just interesting. said succinctly, to levi-strauss, a culture that had a joking close relationship between a child and maternal uncle would therefore also be characterized by a distant relationship between father and child. although not obvious at first glance, those two things go together. you can also see this explicated in this chart, “the problem of the avunculate”, who the uncle “is”, theoretically relates to all of the nuclear family relationships:
https://hell.twtr.plus/media/73e180717645d32fe1d1d463971dd7feb1e68cf006fad3822c51a779ca5aadaa.file