Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

What Does Your Beard Say About You?

For the first time in over a century, facial hair is seen as a marker of the ruling class.

March 5, 2025 at 12:30 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

More than meets the eye.
Photographer: skyNext/iStockphoto

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The Earth didn’t exactly shake when the New York Yankees announced last week that they would allow their players to wear beards. However, the change in the half-century-old policy could stand as a symbol of our cultural epoch. That’s because, for the first time in over a century, beards are coming to be seen as markers of the ruling class.

No, seriously.