The research took place over 16 months in 1989-90. Results revealed that youth undergo a long and complex process to become official gang members. Many factors combine to shape the individual's decision to turn to a gang, but these youths' determination to become gang members was based on early childhood experiences. The youths were rejected in normal society and labeled as social problems first by the schools and later by the police. This early experience of rejection was devastating. The youths sought oppositional forms of resistance to circumvent the consequences. Participation in a gang represented the one great protection they had against a system in which failure was almost ensured. Findings indicated that the process of becoming a gang member is one of adaptation to the circumstances of life in the barrio and that influences in the neighborhood, the school, and the attitudes of police are intertwined in a complex way to influence barrio youth to affiliate with gangs. The gangs provided protection, self-esteem, money, and other valued services that would not be so readily available outside the gang structure.