Students Won't Listen to the Institutions They're Rebelling Against 

“Seeing the strange in the familiar” is the first part of sociologist Peter Berger’s two-part definition of the “sociological perspective” that was introduced to us in an introductory sociology course I took at the University of Waterloo.

Whenever I think of this phrase — probably because I wrote a paper on this topic — the first thing that comes to my mind is the St. Patrick’s Day “celebrations” on Ezra Avenue in Waterloo. This annual tradition may seem so routine, so familiar to some, but for me there are many strange things about it.

For one thing, I think it’s strange that we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at all. St. Patrick was an Irish Christian missionary and bishop in the fifth-century who famously used a three-leaf clover to explain the Christian concept of the Trinity and became the patron saint of Ireland. Although he may have been very influential, I’ve always wondered why exactly do we decide to celebrate him. 

And how does the way we celebrate him relate at all to who he was or what he taught? Why do we use this as an opportunity to drink beer, wear green clothes and do stupid things that break laws and hinder the whole emergency response system in Waterloo Region? Why do students of all people celebrate this? Why does this kind of celebration take place in Waterloo of all places?

Although this is a single event that takes place once a year, in a specific place, a lot of insight can be gained from this particular event to analyze our society in general. By looking at the “general in the particular,” the second aspect of Berger’s sociological perspective, we can try to answer some of these questions.

The students on Ezra Avenue obviously don’t care what it is they are celebrating. As long as there is promise of kegs and big, rowdy crowds, people will join in. In some ways, it’s almost like the holidays of Christmas and Easter. Most people, Christian or non-Christian, only celebrate these holidays for their own benefit: the gifts, the chocolate, the decorations, the big family meals.

Students aren’t the only ones who have problems with binge drinking and alcohol-related behavioural issues. They are just at a stage in life where they aren’t expected to be responsible for a lot other than themselves; they are finally free from their parents. I bet there would be a lot of middle-aged adults out there on Ezra if they didn’t have a job or family to worry about.

Despite the many negative effects of alcohol consumption on both a personal and societal level, our society glorifies and romanticizes alcohol. Kids are exposed to alcohol marketing through advertising during hockey games, through Oktoberfest, through premiers campaigning on buck-a-beer. Many people think consuming alcohol is the only way to have fun, which is very sad to me.

I think the Ezra Avenue gatherings are also a symptom of the oppression of the capitalist society we live in. We are constantly told that to be truly successful you need to have a high-paying job or be the founder of a startup. To get these things you have to be top-of-the-class, you have to be innovative, you have to get the best co-op jobs. 

Grades matter more than friends, money matters more than family. With two universities that reinforce these ideas to their students, whether explicitly or not (like most universities, to be fair), it makes a lot of sense that this kind of event, where people can go wild with the goal of forgetting about all their stresses and anxieties, takes place in Waterloo.

​The rebellious nature of these events can also be attributed to students feeling like they’re stuck in a system where they’re forced to follow a certain path in life. Although the police aren’t the ones making them feel they have to go to university to be successful, the police are another group of people trying to limit their freedom. This could be why students take it out on them by not behaving and turning down suggestions of a more organized, regulated celebration.

My point is that these big street parties are not going to go away or get better with more police enforcement or more co-ordination from the universities. These are the institutions students are trying to rebel against. Band-Aid or reactive solutions aren’t going to put an end to the madness that occurs on Ezra every year. It is a product and a reflection of our greater society. 

In my opinion we need to put more resources and energy into researching and dealing with the root causes. This needs to be done on a larger scale, such as at the provincial or federal level, but also at a microscale, personal level — we all need to think about how our lifestyle has an impact on those around us and society as a whole. I think it would help if we all started to pay more attention to the “strange in the familiar” and the “general in the particular.”