Human beings as social organisms interact with one another in their cultural and environment aspect of life. Anthropology seeks to study these interactions from a scientific perspective (Ferraro, & Andreatta, 2011). Applied anthropology incorporates the study of human biology, language, behaviour, and culture. In so doing, anthropologists use observation, collect research and data as well as ethnography. These applied anthropology tools help human beings to understand one another, a group of people or an individual who are different from the observer. Moreover, they provide comparisons as well as evolutionary information to acquire a holistic perspective regarding the different ways of human life (Haviland et al., 2013). The society of applied anthropology defines it as a scientific investigation of the principles that control the relations of people to one another as well as the application of the principles to real-life problems (Keesing, 2013). It combines the four disciplines of anthropology; archaeology, linguistics, ethnology, and biology and devices ways of applying them to societal problems in an effort to find applicable solutions. Today we have four different types of applied anthropology that are in effect. They include corporate employee assignments, consultant as cultural brokers, basic research for defined goals, and program development as well as administration (Ferraro, & Andreatta, 2011).
In studying race, three anthropology approaches are used. The holistic approach encompasses the analysis of the biological and cultural development of human beings and gives realizations providing a widened perspective of the culture under study (Haviland et al., 2013). The evolution approach which looks at human culture, biology and language communication. The concept behind the approach is that human dimensions are continually changing as the days pass (Keesing, 2013). The third approach is the comparative approach that takes different forms. For instance, it may involve the examination of the differences between two diverse cultural groups to show internal and external variations between two or more members of one cultural group.
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Over the years, anthropology has advanced in a number of ways. Today, studying man to learn about cultures is considered basic anthropology. Applied anthropology, on the other hand, looks into human motivation from outside objectives or forces (Haviland et al., 2013). Anthropologists are in a position to evaluate the current world as opposed to the past through the application of anthropology, which is very useful to the human in different ways. In order to function and interact with other people, understanding them is mandatory and very crucial. Applied anthropology helps humanity by analyzing different groups and establishing similarities amongst them. Today, different people in the world change as a result of influence from other cultures as well as changes in their immediate environment (Ferraro, & Andreatta, 2011). Through applied anthropology, one gets a liberal view of the shunned, unknown or misunderstood worlds of others who have different cultures from theirs. Currently, anthropological analyses are focused on modern cultures, which include urbanized environments that have numerous thriving subcultures.
Like any other field, different theories and methods developed in anthropology can be used in the field of criminology. In applying anthropology to criminology, anthropologists are looking at answering the question of why people commit crime. It also seeks to establish whether there are common causations. To answer these questions, criminology studies crime and causation proffering theories as well as punishment. Classical criminology emphasizes the free will of a person to make rational choices which result in crimes that person commits. It also proposes that the punishment should have proportionality, be sure and swift as it works to prevent future bad choices. However, modern criminology disputes the free-will concept and utilizes reason, rationality, and science as means to establish the truth and foster order and tranquillity (Ferraro, & Andreatta, 2011). This means lead to empiricism which results from morality and abstract reasoning and encompasses the use of reason as well as experimental investigations to establish the truth in a given problem. In the field of criminology, empiricism has led to the ideas that offenders should not be blamed. It proposes that offenders are victims of external forces acting on them, which eventually determines their conduct (Haviland et al., 2013). Numerous anthropology theories can be used to exam this claim from different perspectives.
Most parts of the world today experience very high rates of criminal activities. The diffusionism as anthropological theory attempts to comprehend the nature of different cultures in regards to their culture traits origin and their spreading from one society to others. In society, crimes have certain origins from which they spread to other parts of the society and the world at large (Diah et al., 2014). For instance, cybercrime can start in areas where the society is technologically advanced. From this point, other people within the society and away from the society learn the same, and they find ways to partake in it. This is enhanced by advancement of technology to such societies. As an illustration, today people use social media platforms like YouTube to learn about different criminal activities before proceeding to execute them. Acculturation is a major challenge in the field of criminology today (Ferraro, & Andreatta, 2011). It refers to a systematic cultural change of a given society perpetrated by a dominant external society. Criminal activities in different society have come to be accepted as part of the society. An elaborate example of such a case is terrorism. In different parts of the word, different societies believe terrorism is a solution to their problems and thus necessary. These societies seek to get a solution to their problem, which they believe are caused by the victims of their activities.
Materialism as a way of understanding cultural systems is very important in criminology. In anthropology, materialism is described by three essential principles, that is, cultural ecology, cultural evolution, and cultural materialism. In modern society, cultural materialism is very crucial as it is used to define the status of a person (Diah et al., 2014). In different fields, materialism, in these case having and having not is a major force that drives people. For instance, in criminology field, people are driven to commit crimes to have something that they do not have at the moment. For instance, some offenders will steal and sell other people cars to buy their own. Functionalism theory also aids in understanding criminology. In different parts of the world, certain cultural institutions such as prisons and detention centres function to serve the need of society. In most cases, offenders commit crimes that are not acceptable to the society (Diah et al., 2014). The society has set up these institutions to contain offenders. Their presence and lack of alternative forms of punishment make people commit crimes at different levels.
In conclusion, anthropology is an essential tool to study human beings in their interaction with one another. Applied anthropology incorporates the study of human biology, language, behavior, and culture. Using applied anthropology tools, people learn and understand others who are different from them. Anthropology theories such as diffusionism, materialism, and functionalism are crucial in understanding criminology.
References
Ferraro, G., & Andreatta, S. (2011). Cultural anthropology: An applied perspective : Nelson Education.
Diah, N. M., Hossain, D. M., Mustari, S., & Ramli, N. S. (2014). An overview of the anthropological theories: International Journal of Humanities and Social Science , 4 (1), 155-164.
Haviland, W. A., Prins, H. E., McBride, B., & Walrath, D. (2013). Cultural anthropology: the human challenge . Cengage Learning.
Keesing Felix, M. (2013). Cultural anthropology the science of custom : Rinehart And Company Inc; New York.
