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Bully
A bully is an individual who tends to tormentothers, either through verbal harassmentand/or physical assaults, or through more subtle methods of coercion.
The behavior engaged in by bullies: bullyingIn colloquial speech, bullying is most often used to describe a form of harassmentperpetrated by a childwho is in any way more powerful upon weaker peers. Researchers accept generally that bullying contains three essential elements: ?(1) the behavior is aggressive and negative; (2) the behavior is carried out repeatedly; and (3) the behavior occurs in a relationship where there is an imbalance of power between the parties involved.?[1] Bullying is broken into two categories: 1) direct bullying, and 2) indirect bullying, also known as social aggression.[2] Direct bullying is the form most common to male bullies. Social aggression or indirect bullying is most common to female bullies and young children, and is characterized by forcing the victim into social isolation. This isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including: spreading gossip, refusing to socialize with the victim, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim, and criticizing the victim's manner of dress and other socially-significant markers (including the victim's race, religion, disability, etc). Bullying can occur in situations including in schoolor college/university, the workplace, by neighbours, and between countries(See Jingoism). Whatever the situation, the power structure is typically evident between the bully and victim. It seems to those outside the relationship that the bully's power depends only upon the perception of the victim, with the victim being too intimidatedto put up effective resistance. However the victim usually has just cause to be afraid of the bully due to the threat and actually carrying out of physical/sexual violence, or loss of livelihood. Bullying (in addition to ignorance) is behind most claims of discrimination in the workplace. Types of bullyingBullying is when someone repeatedly acts or says things to have power over another person. Bullies mainly use a combination of intimidation and humiliation to torment others. The following is some examples of bullying techniques:
Locations of bullyingBullying can occur in schools, universities, families, between neighbours, and in workplaces. Schools In schools, bullying usually occurs in areas with minimal or no adult supervision. Common places include the school bus, cafeteria, hallways between classes, bathrooms, and the school-yard during recess. An extreme case of school-yard bullying is that of an eighth grader named Curtis Taylorat a middle school in Iowa who had been the victim of continuous bullying for three years, which included name-calling, being bashed into a locker, having chocolate milk poured down his sweatshirt and vandalism of his belongings. This drove him to suicideon March 21, 1993.Some bully experts have termed this extreme reaction "bullycide". In the 1990s, the United States saw an epidemic of school shootings (of which the most notorious was the Columbine High School massacre). Many of the children behind these shootings claimed that they were the victims of bullies and that they resorted to violenceonly after the school administration repeatedly failed to intervene. In many of these cases, the victims of the shooters sued both the shooters' families and the schools. As a result of these trends, schools in many countries strongly discourage bullying, with programs designed to teach students cooperation, as well as training peer moderatorsin interventionand dispute resolutiontechniques, as a form of peer support. Since media coverage has exposed just how widespread bullying is, juries are more likely now to sympathize with victims. In recent years, many victims have been suing bullies directly for intentional infliction of emotional distress, and including their school as a defendant under the principle of joint and several liability. American victims and their families have other legal recourse, such as suing a school or teacher for failure to adequately supervise, civil rightsviolations, racial or gender discriminationor harassment, or other civil rights violations. Special education students who are victimized may sue a school or school board under the ADAor Section 504. Bullying in schools (or other institutions of higher education) may also take the form of reduced grading, non-return of assignments, segregation of competent students by incompetent/non-performing teachers, for example, to protect the reputation of a college. This is so that their programmes and internal code of conduct are never questioned, and that parents (usually the ones paying the fees), are made to believe that their children are unable to cope with the course. Typically, these attitudes serve to create the unwritten policy of 'if you're stupid, you don't deserve feedback. if you're good, you don't need it.' Frequently, such institutions (usually in Asian countries) run a franchise programme with foreign (usually Western) institutions with the clause that foreign partners have no say in local grading or codes of conduct of staff involved on the local end. It serves to create a class of 'educated fools', people with degrees who have not learned to adapt to situations and create solutions by asking the right questions and solving problems. Workplace In the workplace, bullying is now one of the most contentious issues in the occupational health and safety arena. However, with respect to workplaces, there are few localities that are governed by legislation which specifically targets workplace bullying. This is because lawmakers fear that those rules could be used as leverage in other industrial or interpersonal matters. Therefore most bullying claims are conducted under discrimination laws. In the United Kingdom bullying in the workplace is against the law under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Cyberspace Cyberbullying occurs in electronic space. It "involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, blogs, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others." -Bill Belsey Familial Bullying in the family is normally ignored by society unless it includes a form of physical/sexual abuse. Once it does, outside parties such as the policeand social servicescan get involved if the victim speaks up, or if the abuse has gone too far; the victim is in hospital or dead. Neighborhood Between neighbours bullying normally takes the form of intimidation by nuisance behaviour, such as excessive noise to disturb sleep and normal living patterns, and reports to authorities such as the police for minor or made up incidents. The purpose of this form of behaviour is to make the victim so uncomfortable they move from their property. It should be noted that not all nuisance behaviour is bullying, as some individuals are unaware of other people's feelings and the havoc they are causing. Political Bullying between countries occurs when a more powerful country such as a superpower decides to make a smaller one do its bidding. This is normally done with military force, the threat that aid and grants will not be given to the smaller country or the smaller country will not be allowed to join a trading organisation. Military Bullying in the military may occur when a superior persists in negative behavior toward his or her inferiors. Some argue that this behavior should be allowed because the military is not subject to normal civilian laws. Since military bullying is shielded from open investigation, subordinates may commit suicide out of lack of legal recourse. Deepcut Barracksin the UK is one example of the government refusing to conduct a full public enquiry to possible military bullying. In some countries, ritual hazingamong recruits has been tolerated and even lauded as a "rite of passage" that builds character and toughness; while in others, systematic bullying of lower-ranking, young or physically slight recruits may in fact be encouraged by military policy, either tacitly or overtly (see dedovschina). Also, the Russian armies usually have older/more experienced candidates abusing - kicking or punching - younger/less experienced soldiers. Effects of bullyingPersistent bullying may have a number of effects on an individual, and in the environment where bullying takes place. Effects on the individual include:
Effects on a school include:
Effects on the organisation such as a workplace:
Fictional Bullies
Books
See also
External links
de:Schikane es:Acoso escolar it:Ijime ja:??? nl:Pesten Categories: Sociology| Customary categories of people| Abuse| Aggression| Educational psychology
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