While British anthropologists such as Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown argued that kinship was based on descent from a common ancestor, Lévi-Strauss argued that kinship was based on the alliance between two families that formed when women from one group married men from another.
Mentres os antropólogos británicos como Alfred Radcliffe-Brown sostiñan que os parentescos estaban baseados na ascendencia dun devanceiro común, Lévi-Strauss pensaba que estes parentescos tiñan máis que ver coa alianza entre dúas familias, cando a muller dun grupo casaba co home doutro.