Once a gang member has manufactured their reputation and become a player in the social field with its variable economy of street capital, the demands on his reputation must be monitored so that he can stay in the game. Some players seek to maximise their street capital and then play to win.

Maintaining your street capital: ‘being tested’

If creating a rep is the first big test of the social field, maintaining and defending it is the second. Those in the social field quickly become aware of who is serious about their rep and who is not, who will act and who will not. Failure to act quickly with sufficient force damages your rep (Matza and Sykes, 1961; Anderson, 1999; Messerschmidt, 2000;) and diminishes street capital. Having established your market share of street capital, you must now strive to defend it at all costs, preventing it from being destroyed, diminished or acquired. This is referred to as ‘respecting your rep’. Any attempt to interfere with this rep is a violation (disrespect or ‘dissing’). Those outside the social field refer to such incidents as ‘respect issues’. Here young people develop strategies to increase their own street capital by diminishing that of others. As street capital represents tradable market shares, this is achievable by simply ‘disrespecting’ someone, or by failing to act when the code of the street demands it. An attempt to diminish or acquire another person's street capital is known as ‘being tested’. Similar issues are identified in US gang research. In an account of membership of an LA gang, Monster Cody talks of building respect to the status of ghetto hero, a position that ascribes the benefits of walking the neighbourhood unmolested. However, he notes how such a high rank marks you out as a target, as others try to take your place and thus gain status themselves (Vigil, 1988a).

Testing is carried out regardless of age and gender. One young woman who acted as an independent agent in SW9 dealing Class A drugs was regularly tested by young men, including being threatened with a gun to her head, physical assaults and fighting and subjected to physical assaults and required to defend herself by fighting.