In his studies of American kinship
(1968), David Schneider advanced the
position that kinship was not intrisically based upon biology or
necessaritly related to it in any way. Western
anthropologists identify the two because of the beliefs and
assumptions inherent in their own culture. Other societies base their
kinship institutions on alternative frameworks. For a fuller
discussion of the issues and controversies surrounding Schneider's work,
refer to an on-line book available from the University of Illinois
Press: