When one skin says goodbye to another, they shake hands. The good old American way.

"Straightedge is an attempt to reconsider values in a sort of untheoretical way, in a narcissistic and indulgent society, to try build a different world, one that's not derived from MTV," says William J. Whelan '88, a Social Studies major doing his thesis on "Music Subcultures in the United States." Whelan describes himself as an ex-punk.

But the political ideas of some skins seem even more amazing, and sometimes frightening. Many skins espouse a form of strong patriotism ranging at its extreme to nationalism and neo-Nazism.

"I'm proud to be an American," says Chris, exhibiting the American flag on his bomber jacket. "I'm an American," says Victor from Somerville. Pointing to another skinhead he added, "And this guy's an American."

"In America, you can be whatever you want," says Sean.

As they talk, a police officer comes by and tries to drive the skins away from The Pit. "That's annoying," Chris says. "America's supposed to be a free country, why do people tell each other what to do."

Along with the difference in uniform, one of the things that differentiates skinheads from purple hair mohawked punks is in fact, these political ideas. "The punks are anarchists, while the skinheads want to build the country to be better," Modley says.

Most of the skins take pride in the fact that because of their militaristic appearance and shaved heads, people think they're in the army. "People look at the punks and think they're freaks, then they look at me and ask me if I'm in the service," says Sean.

"We might love our country, but that doesn't mean we agree with the way it's run," Chris says.

The Cambridge skins emulate the working class British model, which started in the early 1970s, according to Whelan.

"Skinheads in England arose in the seventies, just like the mods, the rockers, the punks," says James Miller, a lecturer in the Social Studies department and music writer for Newsweek magazine. "They achieved notoriety for attacking helpless Pakistanis."

"England was in a period of high unemployment at the time. The skinheads were predominately a working class group whose behavior was a kind of protest," Miller says.

But like their counterparts in England, a dark side exists to this patriotism. Spraypainted in dayglow paint throughout Harvard Square, can be seen a modified swatstika, with dots on each of the points. On the hands of some of the skinheads Nazi paraphenelia, such as S.S. rings, can be spotted. One morning, when employees of the Cambridge Savings Bank, went up to the top floor, they found their American flag replaced with a grey flag with a Maltese cross of German Army fame, and the words "Skinheads" and "DMZ" spraypainted on it.

For at least some skinheads, the neo-Nazi elements play a large role in life. The skinheads throw phrases like "white pride," "nationalistic segregation," and the "United Nationalist Army" around in conversation, but it's difficult to tell whether they are sincere or used for shock value.

"I would tend to downplay facist tendencies in American skinheads," Whelan says. The prejudice that exists among the skinheads "is a different way of expressing a feeling they inherited from their parents, because many of the people from Charlestown and South Boston basically are racists," he adds.