Step by Step
1
What applied anthropology is
Applied anthropology means using anthropological knowledge and methods to address real-world problems, rather than only producing academic research.
2
Medical anthropology
Studies the relationship between culture and health — for example, why patients from a particular cultural background might not take prescribed medication, how traditional healing practices interact with biomedicine, and how illness carries social stigma differently across cultures.
3
Development anthropology
Studies why top-down aid and development projects so often fail when they ignore local knowledge and social structures, and advocates for community-based approaches designed with input from the people they're meant to help.
4
Cultural resource management (CRM)
The practical, legally-required survey of a site for archaeological or historical significance before construction can begin. This is actually the largest employer of trained archaeologists in the United States — most working archaeologists are doing CRM work, not university research.
5
Corporate/business anthropology
Companies like Intel and design firms like IDEO hire anthropologists to apply ethnographic methods to user experience (UX) research and consumer behavior studies — essentially doing participant observation on how people actually use products in their daily lives.
6
Forensic anthropology
Uses skeletal analysis to identify human remains for law enforcement investigations and human rights work, such as identifying victims after mass disasters or human rights abuses.
Applied Walkthrough
1
A hospital notices that patients from a particular immigrant community frequently skip follow-up appointments.
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A medical anthropologist might investigate and discover the issue isn't a lack of concern about health, but a mismatch between the clinic's scheduling system and the community's work patterns, or distrust rooted in past negative experiences with the healthcare system — insight a purely clinical approach would likely miss.
3
Meanwhile, before a new highway can be built nearby, a CRM archaeologist is legally required to survey the land first, in case construction would destroy historically or archaeologically significant material.
Exam Application
Exams test whether you can name all five areas of applied anthropology covered here, explain what CRM is and why it's significant numerically, and give an example of business/corporate anthropology in practice.
⚠ Common Trap
Don't assume "applied anthropology" is a lesser or separate field from "real" anthropology — on exams, it's tested as a legitimate and major branch, and CRM specifically is noted as employing more archaeologists than academic positions do.
✓ Quick Self-Check
1. What does applied anthropology mean, broadly?
Using anthropological knowledge and methods to solve real-world problems outside of academic research.
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2. What does a medical anthropologist study?
The relationship between culture and health, including why patients follow or don't follow medical advice and how illness is understood across cultures.
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3. Why do top-down development projects often fail, according to development anthropology?
Because they ignore local knowledge and social structures rather than using community-based approaches.
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4. What is cultural resource management (CRM), and why is it significant?
The legally required survey of land for archaeological/historical significance before construction; it's the largest employer of archaeologists in the U.S.
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5. What does a forensic anthropologist do?
Identifies human remains through skeletal analysis for law enforcement and human rights investigations.
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