This is an energetic activity where members of the in-group exclude outsiders.

Do you want to be out or in?
 

Issues addressed

• Majority / minority relationships
• The social and political mechanisms which divide society

Aims

• To experience being part of an in-group and an out-group
• To analyse the mechanisms of exclusion

Preparation / Materials

• Paper and pens for the observers; a watch or timer for each group

Instructions

1. Divide the group into subgroups of 6 to 8 people.
2. Ask each sub-group to choose one person to be the “observer” and a second to be the “outsider”.
3. Tell the other members of the group to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to form as tight a circle as possible so as not to leave any space between them. They should be facing outwards.
4. Explain that the “outsider” must try to get into the circle while those who form the circle must try to keep that person out. All methods are valid apart from violence. Ask the observer to note the strategies used both by the “outsider” and by those in the circle, and also to act as time-keeper.
5. After two or three minutes, and regardless of whether the “outsider” managed to enter the circle or not, the game stops and the “outsider” joins the circle and another member has a turn at being the “outsider”.
6. The activity is over once all the members of the group who wish to have tried to be the “outsider” and to “force the circle”.

Debriefing and evaluation

Start by asking the players:

• How did you feel when you were part of the circle?
• How did you feel when you were the “outsider”?
• Do those who succeeded in “forcing the circle” feel differently from those who didn’t manage it?

Ask the observers:

• What strategies did the “outsiders” use?
• What strategies did the people in the circle use to prevent the others from getting in?
• If at some point you played with two “outsiders”, how did that change the way the game was played?

Then ask everybody:

• Can you see this activity as a metaphor for any social relationships in real life?
• In real life, who might the outsiders be?
• In real life, who or what does the circle represent?
• Can you give concrete examples of exclusion? Who excludes who, and why?
• Can you give concrete examples of strategies that excluded groups use to demand or claim inclusion?
• In real life, what arguments do the majority make for why they should keep the “outsiders” out?
• Would you agree that loss of identity and culture is often caused by fear: fear of both the in-group and the out-group for each other?
• Can you give any concrete examples of strategies that aim to increase inclusion of members of the out-groups, for instance in access to housing, education and jobs?
• What should be done to promote inclusion and equality in real life?
• How can we change the rules of this activity to make it a metaphor for a more inclusive society?
• Would that inclusive society be multicultural or intercultural?
• What can you do to make society more inclusive? What could you do locally?

Tips for the facilitators

This activity requires a lot energy from everybody playing it. In principle, unless the relations within the group are poor, there should be no aggression. Strategies such as dodging through legs or tickling may be participants’ first choices of strategy, which perhaps makes it an activity best suited to younger participants. Nonetheless, less active strategies such as bribery, flattery and argument are also an option for the less agile.

It is helpful if you give specific instructions to the observers, such as to take note of:

• What the people in the circle say among themselves or to the outsider
• What the members of the circle do in order not to let the outsider in
• What the outsider says
• What the outsider does.

Depending on how the game is going and how inventive the “outsiders” are with their strategies, you could suggest that there are two “outsiders”. Having two outsiders makes it interesting because they can act together or alone. During the debriefing, you may like to explore this by pointing out that in real life the “outsiders” often form a group who work collectively. It can of course also be that there are two groups with different grievances who work independently. You could ask the participants to give real-life examples of this last case and evaluate the success of their strategies compared to those who work co-operatively.

At the start of the debriefing, it is recommended that you let the group comment informally on what has happened before starting the structured evaluation.

Variations

If there are enough people to play with several circles, you can, at the very beginning, ask each sub-group to give themselves a name. This will reinforce the feeling of group identity. You can then play so that the outsider always comes from a different group; this will increase the feeling of the loneliness of being the “outsider”. At the end of each round, the “outsider”, if they did not force the circle, should return to their original group. Those who did make it into the middle become a member of that group. Thus, the sizes of the groups may vary over time. It is interesting to see if larger or smaller groups are more successful in keeping out the “outsiders”.

You may also like to introduce a 1-minute time period between rounds for those forming the circle to discuss and agree a strategy.

Suggestions for follow-up

Take action: Ask yourselves how you could be more aware of your own behaviour and when you may, without meaning to, exclude others from the “group”. This might, for instance, be something as simple as a conversation during a coffee break.

Alternatively, take a look at your club, organisation, training session or event. Is the membership representative of the local / target community? If not, why not? Can anyone join if they want to? What stops them? What would encourage them to join? Decide what action you could take to make your club / organisation / event more inclusive.

Move on to another activity: Having looked at the mechanisms of exclusion and questioned the basis on which we exclude people who are different, you might like to try the activity ‘Dominoes’ to strengthen the group feeling and to explore the characteristics which we share as human beings.