I have recently read with interest Robert Klitgaard's comments on the
difficulty of applying cultural theories to practical problems, reprinted by
RAND (1998) from Culture Matters: Essays in Honour of Aaron Wildavsky
(1997). Klitgaard makes interesting criticisms of anthropology, driven by
the idea that light might be shed on development policy through "practical,
constructive, empirically driven research".
He makes clear that he is exploring the problems rather than attempting to
provide any clear-cut solutions, but I wonder if anyone else has suggested
or carried out any research which attempts what he might term "empirical"
research into policy-culture interactions? Has anyone replied directly to
his criticisms of applied anthropology's focus on "common sense and the
ability to listen to people"? I write as someone who suspects that she may
be about to embark on a project which could be subject to the latter
criticism (an exploration of attitudes to corruption in the Russian police),
but also that this way of working is often entirely defensible.
Thanks in advance,
Ruth Lee
Research Associate, Scarman Centre, University of Leicester, UK
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