Clique Dynamics among School Children

· Cliques are groups of friends that tend to identify each other as mutually connected

· Moreover cliques have a hierarchical structure and not all who desire membership are allowed in

· Techniques of Inclusion

2. It is critical for cliques to be able to maintain their exclusivity

2. They do this through careful membership screening

· Recruitment

3. Potential new members can be brought to the group

· Boundary maintenance

3. Timing is critical for a person seeking new membership

1. Boundaries close

3. A technique of recruitment is a group member seeking out and pursuing that outsider

2. Sometimes separating that person from their friends

2. Sometimes only showing a good side of your personality until that recruit is procured

· Application

4. A second way for outsiders to gain membership is by actively seeking entry

0. Application for the clique entry is more easily accomplished by individuals than groups

0. Successful applicants gained immediate associational status

· Friendship realignment

5. Sometimes accomplished by people striving on their own for upward mobility

5. Loyalties between friends in cliques tend to be less reliable than in other groups

5. Occurs when a member abandons previous friendships or plows through existing ones in order to assert themselves into a relationship with those in central power

5. Members in cliques must put forth constant effort to maintain membership and status

5. Efforts to protect oneself from the potential incursion of others took several forms

4. Co-option

4. Position maintenance

4. Follower realignment

4. Membership challenge

· Ingratiation

6. The process of currying favor with someone can be directed in two ways

0. Supplication

0. Manipulation

· Fawning over more popular people was done by outsiders and peripheries as well as regular clique members

· Leaders employ manipulation to hold attention and loyalty

· Though many clique members ingratiate themselves with people less popular than them, leaders rarely practice supplication

III.       Techniques of Exclusion

· Contributes to other essential features of the clique such as cohesion, integration, management in-group and out-group relationships, and submission to clique loyalty

· Out-group subjugation

2. Subjecting outsiders to exclusion and rejection

2. At times manage to turn those in the group against those they dislike outside of the group

1. Solidifies the group

1. Causes respect and fear for the leader

1. Most people in this position will side with the clique member

· In-group subjugation

3. Another way to exert dominance is by picking on members within the group

3. Often this type of derision starts from a pattern which leaders started and everyone else follows

· Compliance

4. Compliance with derisive behavior on the part of a high-status member would entail either active or passive participation

4. In active compliance one would be chosen by the instigator to start the derisive behavior

4. In passive compliance one would simply go along with the behavior of the instigator

4. Outsiders and cliques members alike knew not to complain to a person of authority

· Stigmatization

5. Cliques member are more likely to pick on their own friends

5. When someone becomes the focus of stigmatization they can be rejected by all their friends

· Expulsion

6. Expulsion entails being permanently excommunicated from the clique

6. The attempt to make new friends can be challenging and come with periods of isolation

· Conclusion

7. The dynamic of inclusion lures members into groups, while the dynamic of exclusion keeps them there

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