In a large group of people, there's a tendency to gravitate towards folks that are of like mind. I think that in any social setting you're going to get cliques, but the only time it's really brought up is when someone feels ostracized, less than, etc. The phrase has horrible connotations, but generally separate but equal is decent footing in those situations. Such as, I don't agree with so-and-so, but hey, everyone is different. Something like that.
Then again, I just got here, so maybe I'm completely off the mark.
