The British Riots, the Views of a Psychologist

British rioting youths attacking and robbing a Malaysian student

Here I give some of my observations of the recent events in the UK. This is based partly on my experiences as a psychologist. In the last ten years I have spent a great deal of time researching individuals on the edges of British society, including homeless adults, drug addicts and criminals.  However, it is also partly based on my experiences of living in Birkenhead, which was one of the towns that experienced the rioting, and is a town with more than its fair share of anti-social young men. 

From my apartment in Quito, I’ve been watching the ‘riots’ on the streets of England, via BBC news.  These are apparently quite different to the British riots of the past. They used to be based on political unrest, but now the underlying theme appears to be nothing more than stealing tacky consumer goods. The main targets have been sports clothing shops, mobile phone shops and consumer electronics outlets; added to this has been a substantial amount of violence and arson. There is no political motive here. It is true that anarchists and those with an anti-globalisation agenda sometimes use these direct action tactics. But they attack the symbols of big business, the banks, the huge commercial chains. In the recent unrest many small community businesses have been destroyed.

So who are the rioters? To those outside Britain, these gangs must be almost unrecognisable as a part of modern Britain, but they are there in many towns and cities and have been for a long time. They are maladjusted and do not fit into society. In Merseyside, where I grew up they are called ‘scallies’. They are young men who dress mainly in sportswear and shave their heads, this style appears invariable. They don’t really have gangs such as you might see in the Americas, but they always stay in groups. They are very dangerous people, simply because they are so maladjusted. Some of my friends in Birkenhead have been badly beaten by scallies in unprovoked attacks. Their tactic is frighteningly simple, they pick a lone individual who will be easy prey and find a reason to savage them, often they ask for a cigarette, if you agree and reach into your pocket, that is when they strike. It is very much an exploitive mentality; they want to bully these who can’t fight back. They move in large groups and attack weaker individuals.

A couple of years ago some scallies in Birkenhead town centre came across a man incapacitated by drugs, he was on a mushroom trip. Unluckily for him it was early November, bonfire night. The scallies dragged him onto a fire and watched him burn to death. In this single act of violence you can see the mentality of the scallie, if you can exploit a situation to cause harm, then do it. In the last week they have realised that if they organise into groups of 100+ then they can create these exploitive situations which overwhelm the softly-softly British police. 

As a research psychologist I have met many of these people, and have had the opportunity to delve into their emotions and thoughts. They are indeed scary people; they exude confidence and street-wisdom. However, talk to them and you find that they are the least worldly members of society, and of generally low IQ. Their experiences are extremely limited, they know very little about modern life. Their interests are very shallow, really nothing more than having consumer goods, and then this is limited mainly to mobile phones, fast cars and branded clothing. All things that are very visible and can indicate ‘success’ to their peers. Their showiness extends to choice of alcohol consumed on the street corner, they have to be seen with the in vogue alcopop. Nor are they truly confident. Tell somebody that you are a ‘doctor’ and they will open up and tell you about the most private inner experiences. Many of the scallies are incredibly lonely. They can’t trust any of their companions. They don’t have an honourable gang structure, just loose associations of bullies that regularly result in them exploiting, attacking or even raping each other. They have no best friends, or real friends at all.

They are likely depressed, quite possibly with past suicide attempts. Family life is almost invariably broken. Most will have been raised in situations that would be considered as abusive by the middle class. This may be just beatings as a child, loosely based on discipline, or it could be out and out rape by their parents. These are not the confident hustlers they may appear to be, they are scared and damaged. When you read the case notes of troubled children you read of drugs, family violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and the like; truly horrific contexts. Drug use by the youths is of course widespread, and this is primarily self-medication, not hedonism. The drugs are often used to stop them thinking about their current situation, and in particular their past.

So why are they so dangerous? The public hear expressions such as personality disorder or psychopath and associate it with sort of intelligent warped but charming criminals. They also think it is incredibly rare, that they you won’t ever meet one. Wrong. They are all around us. The people rioting at the moment are the same people who populate the criminal justice system, and the majority of them have personality disorders. In fact about one fifth of people in prison are psychopaths. About two thirds have a personality disorder of some sort, usually what is called anti-social personality disorder, a tendency for violence and crime in adulthood, but starting in childhood with bullying, cruelty, theft and arson. Do these sound familiar?

This is who we have running around the British streets at the moment. Profoundly maladjusted youths, the majority have been or will be in the prison system. The majority will have screwed up backgrounds and nascent personality disorders. Their psychology is exploitive. The solution is actually quite simple, it is to stop creating maladjusted youths. This is the role of efficient social services and mental health services. But this never happens, the screwed-up go to prison, their mental health deteriorates and they have children. And so on, and so on. 

That, in a nutshell, is what is happening in the UK at the moment. So if you feel extreme anger at these people, remember that they are depressed, damaged, and lonely. They are destined for terrible lives. Does that make you feel better?