It's difficult to come up with any statistics about labels. One thing is, the labels stuck on you by someone else may be something you never thought you were. In other words, the perception of you by others might surprise you. Sure, that's all my opinion, sloppy or not. Never heard an opinion called sloppy before but my posts aren't going to be especially academic, either. It doesn't follow that the labels are bad, however. It's just that sometimes others see you or identify you in a way that hadn't occurred to you before. You may do things that subcultures you never heard of commonly do and so you get another label. But don't get hung up on the idea of labels. I think they can be used in a bad way, especially at election time, but to most people, I suspect they're just handy words and they don't let them get in the way of anything. I'm sure you wouldn't be like that.
Although the opinion others have of you is important (my opinion again but ask your wife), it isn't as though other's opinion control your life. After all, their opinion (or label) could be wrong. If it is, how did that happen? It could be that what is important to you is different than what is important to them--at any given time. Values and priorities change.
I wasn't suggesting that one conform to one's friends, although that happens to some extent if you're going to maintain your friendship. It is likely you form friendships based on commonality, though that is hardly always true. But generally speaking, people don't start out alone unless perhaps they have relocated, which happens a lot in this country.
Interesting that you mention entrenchment. I think I understand what you mean. We believe in something and resist changing and the more others move away from those beliefs, the stronger we hold onto those beliefs (the one true faith). We dig in.