In 1947 members of the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, under the leadership of Professor Firth, made a study of kinship in a South London borough. More recently, to provide comparative material, Professor Garigue investigated kinship patterns among Italian immigrants in London. The results of these two pioneering studies are here presented, with an introductory essay by Professor Firth. This book is an important contribution both to the intensive study of modern urban society, and to the more technical discipline of kinship, especially the relatively neglected problems of bilateral systems.