What social groups are in your high school/college/workplace/area?

^ In my high school it was mainly black people and Hispanics, and we really didn't self-segregate.

In my work, the division is by social class, and by first language; swedish speakers and Finnnish speakers. But it's not a strong divide, as the staff issn't that big, end everyone gets along with everyone.

Also, class and language also often correlate.

>^ In my high school it was mainly black people and Hispanics, and we really didn't self-segregate.

As I said this was early on in freshman year, but that ended over time - or at least wasn't strong (all the white people @ my high school, or at least a LOT of them knew each other from the neighborhood the high school was located in. And this HS was technically a 'magnet school' meaning anyone in the city could get in. How coincidental that the LSC was dominated by the white people from the neighborhood & the replacement principal for the old principal was from the same neighborhood when the original one was promoted )

edited 1st Oct '10 11:31:46 PM by BalloonFleet

This looks interesting and ressurectable.

At least in my school (which is an all-boys grammar school, for reference) you have the sports people, who often cross-over with chavs. Then there are the chavs/layabouts. Then you have the Asians (i.e. Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis). Then you have the techines/computer nerds. Then, everyone else who isn't that. The people who are outcasts. Don't fit in, the people who are musical, the people who are smart, and those who are just nerds, in that they know shit. That is the group I am in. And I'm the pop-culture/TV nerd.

I assume in comprehensive schools, the same styling occurs as in America (but less severe), except you also have the popular girls, more of the emos, hipsters, goths (most comp school have above 800 kids - my school has 500). Also, these comp schools will also have a very large proportion of chavs/layabouts.

This is what I remember from my high school. Anybody was eligible to be an Otaku/Gamer/Actor/Musician/Geek/Athlete at my school. My high school had social groups, but they weren't hierarchical; one could easily transfer between them on a regular basis without stigma.

• Black Kids: Mostly hung out with other Black kids. Most of the volunteers for the NTA's (Non-Teaching Assistant) were Black. Easy to make friends with Working Class White Kids.
• Indian/Pakistani/Bengali Kids: Most Indians hung out with other Indians most of the time. Mostly the children of immigrants. There was often a big group of Indians blocking the staircase in the middle of the second floor because that's where their club met. Largely Christian.
• Wealthy White Kids: Mostly European immigrants or the children of European immigrants. The main ethnicities were Russian, Ukranian, and Albanian. They could be considered a subsection of "the popular kids." They had high GPA's and many went to prestigious colleges.
• Working Class White Kids: The students went to parties and seemed to have the most vibrant social lives. They were the main division of "popular kids." Usually very friendly. Easy to make friends with Black Kids.
• Athletic Kids: Overlaps with Working Class White Kids and Black Kids.
• Jewish Students: Overlaps with Wealthy and Working Class Whites. Jewish students would often sit together in classes when they could, and make inside jokes about Jewish stuff.
• Advanced Biology Students: I can't remember a single Advanced Biology Student who wasn't Indian or Jewish. They were mostly wealthy, and often hung out together from Freshman to Senior year.
• Asians (considered separate from Indians): Mostly the children of immigrants. Usually working-class. The main ethnicities were Chinese, Cambodian, and Vietnamese. They mostly hung out with other Asians, except where noted:
  • Otaku: No need for explanation on this forum.
  • Asians With Wealthy White Friends
  • Asians With Black Friends: These Asians spoke AAVE and mostly hung out with Black kids.
• Hispanics: The smallest race at my school, making up 10% of the population. They were decentralized.

edited 20th Jun '11 10:00:04 PM by Grain

I never really noticed any 'cliques' I noticed as I was growing up though, males and females always formed a /really/ noticible split, they didn't associate with each other much and had two quite different cultures going, I was stuck in the middle.

edited 26th Jun '11 4:01:37 PM by Mysterics

We are geek. There is no individual: We are all geek.

I work on IT.

edited 26th Jun '11 4:08:11 PM by SavageHeathen

In Australia the old Voluntary Unions got burned to the ground, metaphorically, by the John Howard years.

As a result student life on campus, combined with the effects of the internet, isn't really what it used to be.

Fortunately unlike the South you guys mentioned, nothing is segregated. We may be a country founded on racism, indigenous exploitation, and the importation of hardened criminals, but there are a lot of racist policies that are no more, instead replaced with somewhat bonkers immigration scandals that nobody sane would spend too much thinking about how badly the gov handles it for the sake of remaining calm and happy despite their incompetence.

On the campus I go to, I appear to be the only nerd there.

Imagine if you will, a University social structure with a massive power vacuum, because nobody run Bartertown and the Last of the Hipster Tastemakers are dying out because of the recession (nobody can afford to buy things/art/books ironically, and the government is doing everything it can to take able bodied people off Centerlink. Thank God they still have health care. They'll need it when their smoking like chimneys catches up to them. Sorry, but Breaking Bad really opened my eyes up to how awful the American system of health must be, if you guys would resort to meth cooking/dealing to pay for chemotherapy treatment).

Art school has a lot of bohemian people who are slowly having reality collapse upon them. Many of them work full time along with uni homework, because our arts funding isn't so much slashed as it is nurtured by a smaller population/art world within our country that is a hell of a lot easier to get into than say, New York. One day I will join them in having a full time job, but I am uncertain what that job will be.

I don't really know much about the cliques around me other than the homogeny of the subcultures (they are dying out) but the racial diversity is noticeable to be sure.

My school:

• Somalians
• Losers/Nerds
• Gifted Kids
• Everyone else

For the high school I last attended, it's pretty much the girls, the boys, and the loners. How do I know this? My sis and best friend both go to the same school.

There aren't really many cliques in my social group - the vet students are pretty homogenous as far as I can see, there aren't any groups based on distinguishing features.

I suppose in terms of the halls of residence, there are:

• Vet students, who party hard but also study hard.
• Miscellaneous agriculture and wildlife degree sudents, who party hard but study rather less. They have rather a resentment towards the vet students due to us getting all the 'attention'.
• Horsey girls. Exclusively female (or at least, I have yet to meet a male one) and doing equine subjects. Get up rather earlier than everybody else.
• Shouty vulgar drunkards, which tends to overlap with the previous groups.

edited 26th Jun '11 6:34:56 PM by LoniJay

You know what they say about horses...

Hm... on campus, the groups I've noticed (or at least, can identify people from just by looking at them)

• The Gamers' Guild- People with primarily nerdy interests- anime, video and tabletop games, junk like that. Usually found in the student union or one of the churches off campus.
• The Theatre Majors- I usually see the in the cafeteria with a table all to themselves. Apparently, most of them are gay or bisexual.
• The Greeks- Folks who belong to a fraternity or sorority. I don't hang out with 'em much, but seem to be the most party-prone. Usually see guys from one of the black fraternities opposite the Gamers' Guild in the student union.
• The Scholars- Folks who have classes in the on-campus "scholars college" (basically, just "gifted classes"). Seen roaming in packs all over campus, talking about odd subjects. An alright bunch, although a bit strange.