The term was tongue-in-cheek, describing a powerful social clique, not some truly devious alliance ruling either an industry or politics.

The endless arguments are about fundamental things: social exclusion; fidelity; loyalty; social cliques; secret-keeping.

Questions at the beginning of the game categorize the player into one of the social cliques.

She spends most of her time disliking the social cliques in school and practicing her cello.

These films are often set in or around high schools as this allows for many different social cliques to be shown.