skinheads in england 70s - 90s were just a very large gang mostly made up of younger guys that were mostly just angry due to lack of social structure, employment and a feeling of being betrayed of their pride/dignity by a government that was intent on multiculturalism.
it started with the premise of rebelling against what many believed was an abandonment of national pride and progressed to simply rebellion for it's own sake and to escape poverty and despair.
the fashion was dms (doctor martin boots and hence the tattoo of same) and a closely shorn head. at least they were the essentials.
activity: gang violence and comradeship, a feeling of belonging and a simmering rage against the machine so to speak.
i remember mid 80s i was 11 and visiting england and my mother had thought it was a good idea to get my head shorn (maybe i had lice or something). well, since i
wasn't a member of a gang and thus had no backup i got bashed simply for the haircut.
fact is, if you grew up as dorian did (lost his father at an early age, man of the house, poor, stress, small family, no job prospects, etc) you were a prime candidate. the cold hard reality in these circumstances was that you were a skin or you were nobody.
