SKINHEADS: THE ISSUE OF STYLE AND AUTHENTICITY
SKINHEADS: THE ISSUE OF STYLE AND AUTHENTICITY

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we have dealt with the topic of the skinhead subculture. Before analysing the phenomenon of the subculture, the first issue that we discussed were the notions of culture and hegemony and how they can be understood in relation with subcultures in general. We found out in every society the ruling ideas are always dictated by the most powerful and richest class, i.e. those with the most material wealth. This fact led us to discuss the notion of hegemony, and we have concluded that, regardless of the power of the ruling groups in society, hegemony has to be won, reproduced and sustained all the time. This is the point at which our analysis of hegemony and dominant ideology is relevant for analysis of the skinhead subculture. The subculture went from being a relatively unified one during the 1960s to being a fractured subculture with different groups within it trying to establish hegemony and to assert their ideas as something that is inherent to the subculture itself. This conclusion paved the way for us to point out that the conflicted groups each tried to establish their own respective identities as the ones that are exclusively authentic in the skinhead subculture. However, we also saw that the ideas of the far-right skinheads are the ones that are dominant in the subculture. We also concluded that it is the only thing that actually links the skinhead community together. For reasons discussed in the paper, the subculture is fractured in terms of the ideology advocated by different groups within it, but all of them nevertheless asserted their identity through one and the same style. This is why Timothy S. Brown narrowed the skinhead subculture to the notion of the style community.

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