Functional Behavior In Colombia

Within many cultures, people can define what constitutes functional behavior. Colombia’s society, similar to the United States, incorporates different parts of the system like family, education, government, and religion to maintain social stability. As such, homosexuality is viewed as dysfunctional in the Colombian social system, regardless of the more recent laws on the books for gay rights. Traditionally, Colombia’s culture is based in the religious teaching of Catholicism, though the government has been working towards a comparable legislations like America. As a transfer student from Bogota, Columbia, my interviewee said, “Colombia likes to mimic America in their government, but the different parts our society does not influence each other equally.” While both countries are similar in government, Colombia often uses a structural-functional framework allowing different social institutions to influence each other more, thus what does not fit normal social behavior often leads …show more content…

Viewing Colombia from a structural-functional framework, the system clearly demonstrates how the parts of the country like religion influence other powerful institutions such as government. By working together, these parts achieve stability by eliminating dysfunction behavior (homosexuality) through displacement and social cleansing. However, different conclusions can be made regarding a stable social system considering the forced migrations from homes and political groups partaking in social cleansings. Even though Colombia has moved to have gay rights, the societal influence of family, religion, and government will ultimately determine if homosexuality remains a threat to the system that needs to be