Divides cliques taking in good people (8)
I believe the answer is:
segments
'divides' is the definition.
(segmenting is a kind of dividing)
'cliques taking in good people' is the wordplay.
'cliques' becomes 'sets' (I've seen this in another clue).
'taking in' is an insertion indicator.
'good' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'people' becomes 'men' (men are people).
'g'+'men'='gmen'
'sets' enclosing 'gmen' is 'SEGMENTS'.
(Other definitions for segments that I've seen before include "'Sections, pieces (8)'" , "Parts, pieces, portions" , "Sections, portions" , "Parts or pieces that fit with others" , "Divides or splits up" .)