Older people seem more likely to have cliques

During dinner last week, my grandmother started up a conversation on how she doesn't trust her new neighbors because of how low their pants hung. She went into talking about how badly kids dressed. This, she said, was one of the many reasons public schools need uniforms. My brother took a stand and claimed the strange ways kids dress is a form of expression. To which, my grandmother responded, "Uniforms would get rid of cliques."

This got me thinking. As a pretty fresh out of high school student, I never saw any of these cliques movies and people who haven't been in schools for a long time say are such a problem. My best friends included bible thumpers, kids that melted at the sight of color, those that died when they couldn't play -insert sport-, stoners, wannabe stoners that were simply too afraid to actually try, ect. Even I had my own stereotype. I hate to admit it, but I was one of the biggest nerds to ever grace that school (Math Club, Science Team, Debate... anything and everything uncool).

I don't remember anyone ever excluding someone because of the way they dressed or what they were interested in.

Then the conversation led into, "Why, if I was in these schools, I'd find all of the good kids to hang out with. None of those in all black or with the big pants."

After that, I began to notice Garden Club Ladies talking only to other Garden Club Ladies, Motorcycle Couples with other Motorcycle Couples, and Dedicated Church Goers staying among themselves, whereas the high school students wander the streets aimlessly in a wide array of subcultures and whatnot.

This was all especially odd because I live in a tiny village and went to a huge high school. Is the clique a dying beast that only lives on with those that experienced it way back when?