ABSTRACT
Policymakers in business and government have no use for anthropology or anthropologists except for culture-specific technical data. The development of anthropology is characterized by a holistic approach to culture, mainly focusing on simple, preindustrial societies and on descriptive ethnographies which include the study of power and policy among other factors but rarely single them out for special study. It is basic to anthropology to consider problems in the context of the total culture in which they occur. Despite its considerable potential for assuming a prominent role in the formulation and implementation of policy in both public and private sectors of society, anthropology, for all practical purposes, is not a policy science. Anthropologists rely heavily on empirical data and are discovery oriented, contemplative in their style, while other social scientists are becoming more manipulative in their orientation, aiming at acquiring knowledge of immediate use in policy formulation and implementation.
