Anthropological approach to public policy - theoretical and methodological consideration

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to a phenomenon that in English is referred to as public policy, while in Serbian, it uses the term politike or javne politike. There is no universal or one-sided and straightforward definition of public policies. However, the authors agree that public policy research includes the study of decision-making processes and the results of their implementation - whether it is decisions of modern governments or other groups of individuals, institutions, etc. In modern society, public policies are an essential organizational concept that affects all areas of life - they are instruments for shaping socio-cultural reality. In the anthropological approach of public policies, there is a change in the research methodology and the material used as a source of information. Classical anthropological qualitative research is not possible here since it is crucial to capture events in several fields. Therefore, researchers propose a ?studying through? method where the power and networks of relationships between actors, institutions, and discourses in a given time and space, which arise when policy implementation begins, are monitored. When it comes to ?new? material, for the sake of researching public policies, anthropologists turn more to archival material, using various political documents - laws, strategies, recommendations, etc. In line with the above, this paper aims to present an anthropological approach to public policies, point out a different methodology of such research, and emphasize the importance of this anthropological field important for modern society.