“It took courage for the first pioneers to strut through their working-class neighbourhoods dressed like upper-class dandies, while most other youths wore their dads’ uniform of ‘demob’ suits or baggy flannel trousers.” The media hype further raised the social costs. Teds lost job opportunities and were denied entry at their favorite dance halls, cinemas, and bars. This calculus—enduring massive global status losses for gains in local status—made sense only for particularly disadvantaged teens who desired new sources of esteem and had little to lose.
