Indeed. There's going to be some degree of favoritism and office gossip in nearly any career where you have to work with other people, but your work environment seems excessively vile. I think looking for another job is your best option. You're probably not going to be happy trying to play office politics with a bunch of catty assholes who never made it out of the high school mentality.

As for the more general advice of keeping to yourself at work, I disagree. I've made friends with nearly all of my co-workers, and we often discuss things that have nothing to do with work. It makes the time pass a lot faster, if nothing else. Of course, that depends on your co-workers.