This chapter examines in more detail how young people learn the rules of the game, how they join the gang, and the strategies they employ to survive this landscape of risk. I propose that young people must first recognise their social field and identify their position in it, before developing a shared understanding of the stakes and what is happening (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992). By so doing, they learn the rules of the game before learning how to play it. In this context I propose that school is the key location where the rules and risks of the game are learnt.

Learning the rules of the game

I have theorised that the social field of the gang, with its imperatives to generate street capital and its vicarious fluctuating nature, creates a landscape of risk for young people. This concept usefully combines Bourdieu's social topography (Bourdieu, 1969) with aspects of my early organising concept of domestic violence and the Duluth Model (see Appendix C). In the same way as women in a household characterised by domestic violence devise survival strategies and techniques, so too do young people in the social field of the gang. This metaphorical landscape of risk is, for many, made manifest in relation to territoriality and the so-called ‘postcode beef ‘ (see Chapter Eight).

Risk, usually in the form of victimisation, comes from multiple directions in this social field: from gang affiliates and peers, rival gangs and the police. Interaction with each group may diminish street capital, leading to victimisation and violence – a social norm understood and accepted from an early age. Those in the gang social field are most vulnerable, although non-gang-affiliated young people in SW9 are also at risk, and usually have a basic understanding of the issues of street capital and associated dangers. For some young people, gang affiliation is the best option of mitigating the risks of victimisation. However, several different narratives have emerged, indicating different push/pull factors for gang affiliation. I examine these in more detail before considering how young people mitigate risk and minimise victimisation.

Early recognition of the social field

Young people living in SW9 develop an early awareness that gangs operate in their communities.