There are many social institutions that are involved with the development of individuals; a social institution can simply be defined as, organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on the basic social needs of individuals. One’s Family, Religion and Education are the three major forms of institutions in which play highly vital roles in growth. These institutions act as a means of providing opportunity for individuals overall growth. As Erikson's stages of psychosocial development demonstrates, the first 5 of the 8 stages all include the persons family, religion and education as a significant connection required for healthy human development from infancy to late adulthood. Family: Why Are Fewer Americans Getting Married? A family can defined as a group of individuals in relation through either blood, marriage and or custom. The functionalist perspective of family is that its main purpose is to shape individuals into well-functioning members of society. Functionalist view a family as those who are to preform and teach the typical functions of society such as: support and a sense of emotions, reproduction, socialization, social status and even regulation of one's sexual behaviors through social norms. Symbolic interactionists view the family is as a place of social reproduction where meanings are negotiated and maintained by family members. A symbolic interactionist will argue that a family generates and reinforces emotional bonds based on these negotiated meanings through the authority figures that create the norm standards. While the conflict perspective sees it as a means of maintaining their social inequalities in society.