The prominent French ethnologist and anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss is considered one of the founders of structural theory. The scientist's research interests included the following areas: ethnography, linguistics, mythology, the problem of kinship, totemism. The author devoted his first scientific works to the Brazilian Indians, whom he studied in the field in 1935-1939. His field work was reflected in the work - "Elementary Structures of Kinship", which was published in 1949.