Abstract

Studies of Jewish “Americanization” have largely focused on earlier periods of immigration and emphasized the democratic nature of dress in the United States. In contrast, this study analyzes the decades at mid-century when Jews began visibly to enter the American mainstream and argues for an increased appreciation of male sartorial distinction as cultural capital in Jewish social mobility and self-assertion within a stratified American social system. In the decades after the Second World War, a commercialized form of Ivy League style became one of the leading modes of middle class American masculine self-fashioning. Many Jewish students, professors, and young professionals found in Ivy style a statement suited to their aspirations of educational, social, and economic advancement in the face of traditional antisemitic discrimination. The Jewish history of Ivy style reveals the ambiguities and ironies of this process of class-specific Americanization, given the disproportionate role of Jewish tailors and businessmen in the creation and curation of an American style so closely linked to power. Drawing on memoirs, contemporary images, and vintage clothing, this article examines the connection between Ivy style as sartorial habitus and Jewish social and cultural integration in and through higher education.

摘要

对犹太人“美国化”的研究主要集中在早期移民时期，并强调美国着装的民主本质。相比之下，这项研究分析了本世纪中叶犹太人明显开始进入美国主流的几十年，并主张人们越来越重视男性服装的区别，将其作为犹太社会流动性和在分层的美国社会体系中自我主张的文化资本。第二次世界大战后的几十年里，常春藤盟校风格的商业化形式成为美国中产阶级男性自我塑造的主要模式之一。许多犹太学生、教授和年轻专业人士发现常春藤风格的声明适合他们面对传统反犹太主义歧视时对教育、社会和经济进步的渴望。鉴于犹太裁缝和商人在与权力密切相关的美国风格的创造和策划中发挥着不成比例的作用，常春藤风格的犹太历史揭示了这种特定于阶级的美国化过程的模糊性和讽刺性。本文借鉴回忆录、当代图像和复古服装，探讨了作为服装习惯的常春藤风格与高等教育中和通过高等教育融入犹太社会和文化之间的联系。