What does "I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions," mean?

The word, “capitulate,” means to give in or surrender. In this quote from Self-Relianceby Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson details his disgust for conformity and giving in to society’s values.  The names and badges are the labels or stereotypes in which society marks and judges people.  Whether through race, social status, or name, we, as a society, are reliant on a system (like the system of slavery) that categorizes peoples’ worth. We also put our...

The word, “capitulate,” means to give in or surrender. In this quote from Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson details his disgust for conformity and giving in to society’s values.  The names and badges are the labels or stereotypes in which society marks and judges people.  Whether through race, social status, or name, we, as a society, are reliant on a system (like the system of slavery) that categorizes peoples’ worth. We also put our faith into institutions like religion and government.  We surrender our own individuality and self-reliance to these institution’s values in order to conform and fit in. Emerson doesn’t feel you will find your true self in these institutions, and that it is only through your own integrity and self-awareness that you will learn to not capitulate to society’s wishes. 

Emerson is ashamed of how easily we give up our individual freedoms and live for “dead” institutions and ideas.  Emerson believes in a more progressive individual who does not surrender to a society that believes in conformity over self-reliance.