Not all reconstructionists are averse to theory; not all reconstructionists consider
the investigation of unique events as the ‘litmus test’ of historical knowledge.
They acknowledge that historians also discern patterns of behaviour across time, societies
and social groups, and that they categorise different forms of human action and place
them into general moulds.
Such approaches compel historians to think ‘in terms of abstraction’ and theory.
For example, collective identities such as nationalities,religions, occupational groups and social classes are invaluable and indispensable historical abstractions.
While ‘no two individuals are entirely alike’, how they think and act in certain situations – as members of a sporting fraternity or fans of a national sporting team – will typically ‘follow a highly regular pattern’, even ‘to the point where their response can be predicted’.
Moreover, while theories alert historians to regularities and patterns, they can also reveal ‘aspects which resist categorization and which give the event or the situation its unique qualities’.