Unaffiliated Students

Unaffiliated Student

The vast majority of students here at UT are "unaffiliated" students.  These are the students who are not in one of our school's athletic programs or are involved with a sorority or fraternity.  Most of us fall in this category, yet we get the least amount of attention.  The athletes get the press while the greek students' are perceived to throw crazy parties every weekend.  However for our project, they are probably the most important group due to their majority status.  I caught up with two of these students to talk about their dress choice and how they feel about other people's choices when it comes to fashion.

Male:

Students on a campus.
Photo Credit: sinclair.edu

For the non-fraternity/non athletic population, which is the majority of students at UT, I interviewed a freshman male named Trey.  A radio, television, and film major that is on the TUFF Frisbee team at UT, Trey said he spends little time getting ready for school each day.  He says he usually wears shorts and a t-shirt, the same thing he wears to practice.  However, since practice is from 6-9 pm and only three days a week, he says this has little impact on what he wears to school.  Trey said he wears whatever is “most comfortable” and that his 8 am classes had little effect on what he chose to wear and how long it took him to get ready. 

            When asked about how he feels about other people spending a lot of time getting ready he simply said he didn’t care.  He understands some people want to always look good but to him it doesn’t really matter.  For the weekends Trey often spends a little more time getting ready and often chooses to wear clothes considered “classy” by the student population, such as khaki shorts and a Polo shirt.

            I feel Trey is representative of the “unaffiliated” student body male.  Since they do not belong to a major group such as an athletic squad or fraternity, they have more freedom in deciding what they wear.  They choose to express this freedom by wearing very casual, comfortable clothes tat requires little preparation.  This is very different compared to women of similar standing at UT.

Female:

UT students before a football game.
Photo Credit: houston.culturemap.com

For the female perspective, I interviewed a freshman engineering major named Rachel.  Rachel is involved at the Catholic Center here at UT as well as the Architectural Engineering Institute.  These organizations have no impact on how Rachel dresses, she said, except for when she visits the Catholic Center.  There, she likes to dress up as a sign of respect and because it has become expected for people to dress up while at service.  On average, it takes Rachel about 30 minutes to get ready despite the fact that she has some 8 am classes.  However, she did say that she does spend a little longer getting ready on days that she doesn’t have 8 am classes. 

            When asked about her opinions on others who spend either a lot or a small amount of time preparing for school, she responded that she doesn’t care and that “we’re in college, so we should be allowed to dress up however we want to.”  Rachel, like Trey, spends additional time getting ready on weekends, saying that it can take up to an hour and a half for her to get ready on a Saturday night depending on where she’s going.  When asked about her friends, Rachel said that they share many similar views and that they often spend 30 minutes preparing for school each day as well.  Rachel showed many similarities to Trey but there was one main difference.  Rachel spent considerably more time getting ready for school than her male counterpart. 

           

Sociological Connections

            For most, the sociological factor that drives fashion decisions the most is Charles Cooley's looking glass self approach.  After looking at the differences by gender, it is clear both use this approach, just in different ways.
            Men, it seems, dress only to fit in.  For the most part, they could care less about impressing people with their superior style or clothing and more about simply blending in with everyone else.  They would only worry about how they dress if they thought people would judge them negatively for what they wear.  By doing this they are using the looking glass approach.  They are imagining how people would look at them and ask themselves, will I be looked down upon for wearing this?  If yes, they choose to change.
            Women it seems do the same thing except they ask themselves a different question: will people be impressed by what I wear?  This often requires spending more time preparing for school, consistent with what I found in my interviews.  Why is this?  I believe it goes back to gender roles in America.  Women are generally expected to dress up more than men are.  It is more acceptable for a man to wake up out of bed and go straight to class than it is for a female and because of this, women today choose to spend more time preparing for school than their male counter parts do.
            These interviews obviously are only a small window into the nearly 40,000 "unaffiliated" students, but I feel are representative of the population and provide useful insight into the world of fashion here at the University of Texas.