In this work, the starting point is the recent rise in serious youth violence in the London Borough of Lambeth and the need to explain why it is happening. In this chapter, I present the formal theory underpinning my study. I identify the factors influencing my approach and the valuable insight gained from using tools developed for domestic violence training and counselling. I continue by illustrating how this insight then led me to consider the gang agenda through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu and the concept of space and social field. I then move on to a formal exposition of field theory as applied to the youth gang and in particular the valuable contribution of his concept of gaming theory. I conclude the chapter by applying field theory to the social field of the gang, establishing my key concepts of street capital and its acquisition through the gang repertoire.

From my professional work in London SW9, it was evident that the violence perpetrated in the name of ‘gang activity’ had several noticeable but contradictory features: it was not random – but appeared to be; it often appeared chaotic, but was in fact targeted; it was increasingly violent – but arose from seemingly minor issues of respect; it had a profound impact on key groups – leaving others relatively untouched; it involved only certain young people – yet others often knew what was going to happen; it occurred in specific locations – yet many denied it was geographically based; individuals concerned changed over time – yet the same issues persisted; girls were reportedly peripheral to activity – yet were clearly central to it; gangs were rivals – yet some members were linked to both; some gangs existed for several years while others dissolved; academic studies claimed an absence of hierarchical gang structures – yet gang affiliates claimed structures existed; local tensions could rise or fall quickly. There was a need to make sense of this confusing and paradoxical picture where violence occurs in different spaces, seemingly random, yet often predictable.

These ‘random/predictable’ patterns of violence evoked scenarios of domestic abuse where violence is a constant threat and women adopt survival techniques for each day and each environment.