We can start answering this simply by re-stating the words of John Van Willigen (2002): "Ever since anthropology has existed as a research discipline, it has had a practical aspect, in which men and women trained in anthropology used their skills and knowledge to solve practical problems. Historically, this aspect of anthropology has been called applied anthropology." (ix) Businesses, government officials, as well as other organizations, use the assistance of applied anthropology to gain an intuitive understanding of the community or environment. For example, a professional anthropologist could be hired by the government to analyze and observe a foreign community for research for data, political reasons, or to find ways for development. In other words, while using a ethnographic analysis, anthropologists who uses the application of knowledge and theory based on the observation of human behavior in regions to find a solution to the problems that lies within that region or neighboring communities. Applied anthropology has played a major role in societies by improving human conditions and giving more to anthropological knowledge which involves three important articles: 1) information 2) policy 3) …show more content…
Action is the third known article to applied anthropology; "information is obtained through research, information is used to formulate policy, and policy guides action." This is what Willigan (2002) expresses and it is repeated again by Ferraro and Andreatta (2014). As restated throughout this essay, applied anthropology is interested in using cultural anthropology in order to solve practical issues and that cannot be done unless there is a plan developed and put into action. While following a code of ethics, anthropologists who conducted their research and helped formulate a policy can make their solutions into a plan of action that helps the observed region. Applied anthropology in a modern society helps constructs these movements that can either greatly help cultures or actually harm