ABSTRACT
This chapter explains social construction theory and describes how skinheads develop a knowledge system, including the types of rationalization they use in going about their daily life, while constructing a history of the skinhead movement as they see it in regard to its relative autonomy. The main reason for using social construction theory to analyze the skinhead movement is that it allows us to look at the paradigm that skins identify with and the complexity of the relationships between identity and interpretations of history and culture in regard to the moral ideas and values that constitute the core of the skinhead subculture. Trads' politics and any identity which they felt detracted from the movement's original focus—working-class British roots—were not relevant to the advancement of the skinhead movement. It is customary to distinguish four main cultural types of skinheads: traditional, neo-Nazi, skinheads against racial prejudice and gay skins.
