Einstein’s Socks and American Style

Albert Einstein’s choice not to wear socks reflected his personal experience, yet also became a path of nonconformism many others took. The real issue was going barefoot, with all that meant in terms of social convention. In the 1940s, Einstein adopted the khakis and sweatshirts of young Americans, who in their turn began wearing shoes without socks in the 1950s. This “Ivy” or “preppy” style was an amalgam of conformism and rebellion that reflected a larger search for new personal freedom. The reactions to this style in Japan as well as the US illuminate the wider resonance of Einstein’s ambivalence about acceding to social norms that went against his own needs. The resultant story interweaves Einstein’s personal and medical history, stylish hedonists expanding their pleasures, veterans returning to school after the war, and young people trying to reconcile rebellion with submission.