Fete Accompli, Fayre Game

I've just finished the book "A Fete Worse Than Death". I found it to be a humourous social commentary of the Jubilee summer, but can't shake the feeling of being disturbed by the country it describes. I've no doubt that the social divisions in Britain, and in England in particular, are very noticeable, but what disturbs me most is the way the author describes two groups, the haves and the have-nots. There has always been a rich and a poor, but in the book there is so little interaction between the two that either could be forgiven for failing to recognise the existence of the other at all, they appear to exist in total isolation to each other. One group strives to protect the status quo, the established order, tradition, the other sees no value in any of these, and rejects it all. There is no common ground.
I have bad memories of the playground, "are you my friend or theirs? you can't be both, choose", and I hate the culture of cliques, where you no longer have a relationship with an individual, purely one with the group identity. And yet..
There are two photos of me which are treasured, and both are of groups of friends sharing happy times. What makes them different is that they are not groups with an identity, but groups with a purpose, hands joined together but facing out of, not into, the circle, reaching out to others not excluding them.