Even past the days of high school, social labels follow people everywhere, including a university like Eastern.

The labels jock, cheerleader, preppy, emo and goth tend to follow college students after they graduate high school, though this fad should have died after graduation.

Do these labels follow us because that is how our society works, or do we simply stay in these roles out of comfort?

Philosophy professor Jason Waller said he has some theories on the basis of individuality and group mentality.

“Much less than in a high school setting, for example, you’ll have various cliques, and if larger cliques exist in classrooms, then it’s harder to control them,” he said.

Waller thinks groups like fraternities are an instrument of conformity because of their strict requirements for entry and acceptance. He said they present a certain image, though it’s one small part of a major university.

Waller said these groups and social labels force people to hide who they really are through media influence and social opinion; through paying certain “social prices.”

On the other hand, I feel like these labels still exist because of the thought process hardwired into students throughout their middle and high school years.

For example, the people we see in the media every day from childhood on.

The media places social stigma in the minds of adolescents by comparing them to people of a similar age like Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton.

These labels aren’t restricted to popular culture, but in areas like politics as well, such as being pro- or anti-war, or pro-life or pro-choice.

Being a part of a group or wearing a label gives a sense of security young adults are simply too comfortable wearing.

A university – a place of higher learning – should help us grow and think and shed these labels.

Though, going outside the social majority has its price as well, its own “social cost.”

Waller said social cost could stop people from living life creatively in specific ways or make them feel like an outcast because cliques require people to live by certain rules.

He said labels could be the problem because of their expectations.

If people don’t meet them, are they living to be what they truly want to be, or is it a product of a sort of “follow-the-leader” theory of life?

I realized this as a problem early in my teenage years.

However, I decided to take labels attached to me and reverse them into what I wanted. I tried to make these labels work for me.

I embraced the ones I liked and ignored those I didn’t.

As a result, I was more accepted by my peers and made more friends, as well as seeing people’s real potential and seeing them as equals, rather than on a social ladder, or simply as their label or the group they may appear to fit in.

Wearing a label is, ultimately, the choice of every individual.

Staying inside one’s comfort zone or group may be safe and easy but, then again, life isn’t meant to be safe and easy.

Jose Gonzalez is a junior journalism

major and can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected]