 
Week 2 - Healthy School Communities
|  | Bullying and the Creation of a Healthy School Environment:
Schools Need to Know Exactly What They're Up Against |
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Listing of Papers | |
PROFESSOR KEN RIGBY
South Australia, Australia
THERE IS NO DOUBT that bullying has been with us at least as long as recorded history. We have only to read the anguished cries of the now remote and anonymous authors of the Psalms to realise that bullying was excruciatingly present among people more than 2,500 years ago.
Deadly enemies surround me; they have no pity and speak proudly. They are around me now; wherever I turn, watching for a chance to put me down. They are like lions watching for me, wanting to tear me to pieces.
My enemies make trouble for me all day long; they are always thinking up some ways to hurt me. They gather in hiding places and watch everything I do.
All day long my enemies insult me; those who mock me use my name in cursing.
My enemies say cruel things about me. They want me to die and be forgotten.
They tell lies about me, and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason.
When I look beside me I see there is no one to help me, no one to protect me. No one cares for me.
Even my best friend, the one I trusted most, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.
Everyone has forgotten me, as though I was dead.
They are overwhelmed:
Insults have broken my heart and I am in despair. I had hoped for sympathy but there was none; for comfort, but I found none.
I am like a dumb man and cannot speak.
Unspeakable Torment of the Oppressed
This is, indeed, what it is like for children who are continually oppressed by their peers in school. After a decade of research into school bullying and revelations of unspeakable torment, and even suicide, by the most severely hurt children, Education Departments (following the lead of a number of the schools they administer) are beginning to take the matter seriously.
Two Australian state governments, Queensland and Victoria, have recently required schools to have anti-bullying policies and to take appropriate action to stop it. Others will probably follow suit. Packages, strategies, programs and procedures are already in demand.
But now comes the problem. Given this understandably strong emotional reaction to bullying and the strident call for action now, how can we best describe what we are talking about ? How can we begin to address the very real problem of peer victimisation in schools, without being swept along on an emotional wave, seeing victims everywhere, bullies under every bed ?
What Exactly is Bullying?
We can begin by asking soberly exactly what bullying is. There has, in fact, been remarkably little discussion on what constitutes bullying. It is assumed that we all know what it is, and the only question that needs to be asked is what action we should take. However, the question of exactly what constitutes bullying is not merely a philosophic question, suitable for after-dinner conversation. It is a question of pressing practical importance.
Appealing to the widespread, deeply-seated dislike of bullies, Tattum and Tattum (1992) proposed the following definition: 'Bullying is the wilful, conscious desire to hurt another and put him/her under stress.' Thus bullying was conceived as a desire. Anybody who wants to hurt somebody - and knows it - is then, by definition, a bully. The inadequacy of this formulation becomes evident when you ask people whether they ever feel like hurting somebody. In fact, at some time or other, almost everybody admits that they do. And, of course, many of those harbouring ill-will do not express their desires in action. They commonly think better of it. They do not bully. Yet this definition is a popular one, endorsed for example, by the Scottish Council for Educational Research, which recommended that teachers see bullying in this way. This definition appeals to those who wish to take the moral high ground at the coming Armageddon.
Malign Bullying
As long as we are thinking about malign bullying, which is, for the most part, what concerns us as educators, we can reasonably think of 'a wilful conscious desire to hurt another and put him/her under stress' as a necessary but not sufficient condition underlying bullying. Most recent writers have conceived bullying as a kind of behaviour characterised by intentionality and hurtfulness.
The leading figure in the war against bullying, Dan Olweus (1993), defined bullying as 'negative behaviour', by which he meant behaviour intended to inflict 'injury or discomfort'. Typically, we may add, such behaviour is repeated during successive encounters.
The means by which people bully have been frequently described and categorised. They include both physical and psychological means. The 'injury or discomfort' may be delivered or induced directly by a blow, an insult or offensive gesture or indirectly through spreading rumours, social manipulation or exclusion.
Motivation and Context Vital
In the listing of actions by which bullying may carried out, there is a danger that the behaviour itself be seen as bullying, regardless of its motivation or the social context in which it occurs. This is not so. For example, a blow may be struck in self-defence; an infant may be excluded from an activity because it is dangerous for someone so young. We must remind ourselves that bullying is behaviour intended to hurt and is typically repeated over time.
For some, this is where the story ends. We have defined bullying. Then someone asks an awkward question: Is it bullying when two people of equal strength have the occasional fight or quarrel? Maybe not. We may think that fighting and quarrelling are undesirable, especially in a school, where we would like order to prevail. We may well think that the antagonists do sincerely want to hurt each other, but is this bullying?
Imbalance of Power
To accommodate this difficulty, Olweus suggested that bullying occurs only when there is an 'imbalance of power'. The aggressor, or group of aggressors, are more powerful in some way than the person they are targeting. This suggestion has been adopted by most (but not all) subsequent writers. But it does raise the difficult question of how to assess differences in power that are relevant to bullying.
In fact, little attention has been given to this question. An imbalance is obvious enough when a bully towers over a cowering victim or a group of bullies abuse a solitary individual. But what we are inclined to call bullying often seems to occur between people for whom the nature or basis for the power differential is really obscure. If we listen carefully we may discover that one of them has the sharper tongue, with a better command of language, argument or invective; that one of them can call upon his supporters (and the other knows it); and that one (maybe a principal) has status and can 'pull rank'. We may discover hidden vulnerabilities in the victim: a phobia that can be exploited; hopelessness at games; a stammer under pressure; a father who is in prison; a precocious interest in poetry that can be laughed to scorn. We would like to recognise bullying at a glance. Sometimes we can't.
What if the So-Called Victim 'Deserves' It?
Somebody asks another question: What if the so-called victim deserves what he or she is getting? Perish the thought. But the questioner persists. What if it's a teacher and he's putting the kid through it because he's been playing up in class; or it's a prefect who has been giving a junior a blasting for spoiling somebody's games; or a big kid who has stood enough cheek from his little brother? Clearly, here we have is behaviour intended to put somebody less powerful under stress. Are there times when being forceful is not bullying?
An Evolving Concept
The question deserves to be asked; the answer hard to give. What is seen as justified at one time and in one place may not be seen that way at another. For much of human history, slavery - perhaps the most unjustified of human bullying - prevailed unquestioned; in Victorian England senior boys in Boarding Schools were allocated fags to do with much as they pleased, and remnants of this antiquated system still persist in our 'better' private schools. Teachers who caned were once simply dong their job; now he or she is a bully. We need to recognise that the criteria that determine how power and authority should be exercised are constantly changing. So too must be our conception of what is bullying.
Sense of Oppression
There are two further considerations that may help us to identify bullying. One of these focuses on the feelings of the target of aggression. This is the sense of oppression that the victim of bullying invariably feels. In fact, one influential writer in this field, the English criminologist, David Farrington (1993) saw 'oppression' as central to what bullying is. His definition: Bullying is 'repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful person'. What is happening is invariably seen by the victim as hard to bear, as well as being unjust. It does not follow, of course, that the victim's judgement is sound. An unsympathetic critic may see some justification for the 'oppression'. The practical point is that one should always listen first to what the victim has to say. A sense of being oppressed is a necessary but not sufficient indicator of whether bullying is taking place.
The second consideration requires that we focus on the bully. Normally, one would expect a sense of triumph or pleasure at achieving the desired effect of causing, in Olweus's terms, injury or discomfort. In the case of the malign bully, one would be surprised if the perpetrator is not pleased when he or she has reduced a victim to tears. But even here, one has to be careful. The immediate gratification felt by a bully may give way, in time, to a sense of remorse.
A Tentative Description
We are now in a position to offer a tentative description of what constitutes bullying, more especially of the kind we might call malign.
Bullying involves a desire to hurt + hurtful action + a power imbalance + (typically) repetition + an unjust use of power + evident enjoyment by the aggressor and a sense of being oppressed on the part of the victim.
If we agree on what bullying is, then we have taken a step towards being able to measure it. We will with greater assurance know where to direct our efforts. If we can measure it, we can discover whether our efforts have been successful.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Ken Rigby, Ph D was employed as a teacher for ten years in primary and high Schools in England and Australia before becoming a lecturer, then Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of South Australia. Over the last twelve years he has become the leading Australian researcher on issues of school bullying. He has published widely in academic journals: see
http://www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying
Ken Rigby's book, 'Bullying in Schools and What to Do About It', published in Australia (1996), England (1997) and Canada (1998) is widely used as an authoritative research-based text. He consults regularly with schools, and provides seminars and workshops nationally and internationally. His forthcoming book, 'An Anti-Bullying Handbook for School Educators', to be published by the Australian Council for Educational Research, will provide practical guidance and advice for school addressing the problem of school bullying.
Ken Rigby can be contacted by email at:
ken.rigby@unisa.edu.au
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REFERENCES
Farrington, D.P. (1993). 'Understanding and preventing bullying'. In M. Tonny and N. Morris (Eds). Crime and Justice, Vol 17, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Petersen, L. and Rigby, K. (1999). 'Countering bullying at an Australian secondary school'. In Journal of Adolescence. 22, 4, 481-492.
Rigby, K. (1996). Bullying in schools - and what to do about it. Melbourne: ACER.
(British Edition, 1997: London: Jessica Kingsley).
Rigby, K. (1997a).'What children tell us about bullying in schools'. In Children Australia, 22, 2, 28 - 34.
Rigby, K. (1997b). 'Manual for the Peer Relations Questionnaire' (PRQ), Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia. In The Professional Reading Guide.
Rigby, K. (1997c). 'Reflections on Tom Brown's Schooldays and the problem of bullying today'. In Australian Journal of Social Science, 4,1,85-96.
Rigby, K. (1998a). 'The relationship between reported health and involvement in bully/victim problems among male and female secondary school students'. In Journal of Health Psychology, 3, 4, 465 - 476.
Rigby, K. (1998b). 'Peer relations at school and the health of children'. In Youth Studies Australia. Vol 17, 1, 13-17.
Rigby, K. (1998c). 'Suicidal ideation and bullying among Australian secondary school children'. In Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 15,1,45-61.
Rigby, K. (1999). 'Peer victimisation at school and the health of secondary students'. In British Journal of Educational Psychology, 22, 2, 28 - 34.
Rigby, K. (2000, in press). 'Effects of peer victimisation in schools and perceived social support on adolescent well-being'. In Journal of Adolescence.
Rigby, K. (2000). An anti-bullying handbook for school educators. Melbourne: ACER. (submitted for publication).
Rigby, K. and Slee, P.T. (1993). 'Dimensions of interpersonal relating among Australian school children and their implications for psychological well-being'. In Journal of Social Psychology, 133(1), 33-42.
Rigby, K.and Slee, P.T. (1999). 'Suicidal ideation among adolescent school children, .involvement in bully/victim problems and perceived low social support'. In Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 29, 119-130.
Smith. PK et al. (eds) (1999). The Nature of School Bullying, London, Routledge.
Tattum, D. and Tattum, E. (1992). Social Education and Personal Development. London, David Fulton.
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