Culture as a Fishbowl: Lesson 2 Social Structure

We watched the documentary babies to illustrate that babies are born into a distinct culture.  That culture starts influencing them even before they are born:  in utero infants are impacted by the stress that the mother feels as well as her nutrition, and prenatal care.  All of these are related to culture.  And then the baby is born into a world where it is surrounded by culture - much like a fish is surrounded by water in a fishbowl.  This graphic organizer which compares culture to a fishbowl helps to illustrate the importance and many aspects of culture.

Culture as a fishbowl

Material Culture
A metaphor for culture is a fishbowl.  All of the stuff in the fishbowl is material culture.  Material culture is all of the things of a group of people that have a shared meaning between them.  Often the material culture represents more thsn what you can see.  What is an example of material culture that you saw in the movie?

Google Form For today.

1.  Stop and look at the rest of the class on zoom.  What is something you see in someone else's home that you can name?  Why is it there?  Does it represent anything we can't see?  If you can make meaning of this item using these questions then it holds cultural significance.

Nonmaterial Culture

But what you can't see (the water) is just as important (if not more so): the ph value of the water, the temperature, whether it is salty or not, etc... The aspects of culture that are not tangible are called nonmaterial culture.  These aspects include the shared meaning of gestures, language/words, behavior, expectations, values.  What is an example of nonmaterial culture that you saw in the movie?

2.  What is an example of nonmaterial culture right now? (i.e. a gesture, word/phrase, behavior, expectation, or value that has shared meaning)

The Importance of Culture

Besides illustrating material and nonmaterial culture, in the fishbowl metaphor, the fish has never known life out of water just like we have been surrounded by culture from the moment we are born.  Additionally, the fish must look through the water to see the world just as we always look through our culture to understand the world.  We are limited and shaped by our cultural experiences. If the water in the bowl is blue then the whole world looks blue to the fish.  

3.  What culture or cultures do you feel a part of?  Can you identify examples of material and nonmaterial culture from your culture? 




Growing up in a fishbowl

So, humans are born into a world surrounded by culture.  But they are also born helpless and, I would argue, without consciousness.  Babies cannot take care of themselves.  They have no awareness of the world around them.  However, humans are wired to connect with others - even babies.  It is in our nature.  This connection is what helps us survive and become aware of both culture and our self.  Our consciousness, our awareness, can only be achieved through the nurture and love of other humans.  To put it another way, our nature is to be nurtured.  

For more proof on how we are made to be social, checkout this link to see a story on 60 minutes about how we have an ability to interpret and remember human faces. So we are made to interact with other people and it is through other people that we become human and that we develop our potential. The process of this influence in sociology is called "socialization."

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