ABSTRACT
The anthropological, historical, and sociopolitical literature on women's economic strategies provides evidence that women in all societies and classes facilitate economic continuity in numerous ways. Hence, women in all societies and classes (including low income women in America) need policies that will support and sustain their economic endeavors. Although anthropologists have documented and described women's economic activities, little has been done to analyze the policies that support or thwart these autonomous economic activities. One reason for this omission is that, historically, anthropologists have assumed a limited role in the policy process. Eddy and Partridge (1987) contend that there are three major reasons for applied anthropology's lack of vigor in contributing to public policy:
... the nature of policy formulation and implementation as a continually changing political process with which anthropologists have little familiarity, the fact that mainstream anthropology largely ignored contemporary social problems, and the limited use of empirical data of any type in many political decisions (Eddy and Partridge 1987, 381)
Anthropologists have described beliefs and traditions that influence the rules by which people of various cultures live. Research of this kind has demonstrated that policy is inextricably linked to even the most basic of human activities. However, as contemporary human issues become more complex and global, there is a need to understand the values and strategies involved in the formulation of national policies. Sanday (1976) proposes that through policy research, anthropology can serve the needs of both science and society, and that an ethnographic study of policy-related activities could lead to
uncoveringunderlyingassumptionsandvaluesmotivatingthecauseof policyactivity(Sanday1976,xvi-xix).Chambers(1985)contendsthat thepolicyideaisintimatelyconnectedtoappliedanthropologybecause theworkofanthropologists"canneveraffordtoprogressapartfrom theconcernsoftherestoftheworld"(Chambers1985,37-38). Clammer(1985)arguesthatthefutureofanthropologyliesinits engagingtheissuesofthecontemporarycapitaliststateandof everydaylifeintheindustrializedandindustrializingworld.Hence,it isclearthatanthropologistscanplayaroleinthestudyofpolicy formulation.
