Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of cultural anthropologyCultural anthropology is one of four fields of anthropology (the holistic study of humanity) as it developed in the United States. It is the branch of anthropology that has developed and promoted "culture" as a meaningful scientific concept; it is also the branch of anthropology that studies cultural variation among humans. The anthropological concept ...cultural anthropology. Cultures worldwide possess a wide range of systems of tracking kinshipKinship is one of the most basic principles for organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. It was originally thought to reflect biological descent, a view that was challenged by David M. Schneider in his work on symbolic kinship (1984, ...kinship and descent. Anthropologists break these down into simple concepts which are common among many different cultures.