"1997年，他到东莞打工，在一家木材厂给人看场子，在那里，他学会了汉族的生活方式，和朋友一起打台球，到歌厅唱歌。"
Hi everyone! I'm trying to translate this sentence, but I don't understand what 看场子 stands for in this sentence.
I know it could just mean "Look at the place" but that doesn't make sense here. Does it mean something like "keep watch/guard"? Thank you in advance for the replies!
In this context it means "to watch/guard the place", "to look after the place".
1997年，他到东莞打工，在一家木材厂给人看场子，在那里，他学会了汉族的生活方式，和朋友一起打台球，到歌厅唱歌。
In 1997, he went to work in Dongguan as a "watcher" for a timber factory. There, he learned about the the Han lifestyle, played pool with friends and sang in karaoke bars.
I'm translating a bit freely here, but that's the geist. 给人看场子 means "to watch/guard the place for someone else", but it conveys the idea of informal work.
The subject of the sentence wasn't a formal security guard, or supervisor. He was "helping someone look after the place", "making sure things ran smoothly".
Bonus: Baidu Baike has also a page about this term, meaning essentially "bouncer", or even "henchman" for club and bar owners. However it doesn't look like this page is written very professionally, so it's probably a very colloquial, extended meaning, or possibly underworld lingo. I would take it with a grain of salt.
Security to maintain order = 保安维护秩序。
在以前，看场子通常是向黑社会支付一些酬劳，然后委托他们维护秩序，防止其他帮派的人闹事。在社会动荡的年代，黑帮社会通常会占领某一块区域，并强行推销他们的这种服务，不交钱是要被砸场的。
但是现代社会已经很少发生了，广义地被理解成维护秩序也可以的。
It means security, preserve order
