School Bullying
New Theories in Context

New perspectives on the complex social dynamics of bullying practices through analyses of children's experiences, and parents' and teachers' perspectives.

Robin May Schott (Edited by), Dorte Marie Søndergaard (Edited by)

9781107027763, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 February 2014

482 pages, 7 b/w illus. 6 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.81 kg

'Once in a generation, a new book helps to shift understanding of a long-standing social issue. School Bullying … is such a book. It brings together original thinkers who are also gifted researchers from three continents to take a complex view of the plural and shifting processes by which bullying is enacted and its effects. The result is an assembly of accessible, theoretically sophisticated chapters informed by innovative, multidisciplinary research that invite and allow new ways of thinking about the group dynamics of bullying in person and in cyberspace. Readers will be in no doubt as to why this book is necessary … [It] marks a paradigm shift that both disrupts easy certainties about how bullying should be addressed and gives hope that research attention to its complexity, local and social manifestations can provide invaluable insights into genuinely strategic school interventions.' Ann Phoenix, Institute of Education, University of London

Bullying is a socially and culturally complex phenomenon that until now has largely been understood in the context of the individual. This book challenges the dominance of this approach, examining the processes of extreme exclusion that are enacted in bullying - whether at school, through face-to-face meetings or virtual encounters - in the context of group dynamics. Contributors draw upon qualitative empirical studies, mixed methods and statistics, to analyse the elements that allow bullying to emerge - the processes that produce exclusion and contempt, and the relations between children, teachers and parents. Introducing a new definition of bullying, this book goes on to discuss directions for future research and action, including more informed intervention strategies and re-thinking methods of prevention. Exploring bullying in the light of the latest research from a wide variety of disciplines, this book paves the way for a new paradigm through which to understand the field.

1. Introduction: new approaches to school bullying Robin May Schott and Dorte Marie Søndergaard
Part I. Definitions and Theories: 2. The social concept of bullying: philosophical reflections on definitions Robin May Schott
3. Social exclusion anxiety: bullying and the forces that contribute to bullying amongst children at school Dorte Marie Søndergaard
4. Violence and the moral order in contemporary schooling: a discursive analysis Constance Ellwood and Bronwyn Davies
5. Dispositifs of bullying Carsten Bagge Laustsen
Part II. Youth Experiences: 6. 'Who does he think she is?' Making new friends and leaving others behind – on the path from childhood to youth Hanne Haavind
7. Non-simultaneity in cyberbullying Jette Kofoed
8. The life and death of bullying Robin May Schott
Part III. School Talk: 9. New solutions for bullying and harassment: a post-structural, feminist approach Elizabeth J. Meyer
10. Sanctions against bullying and disruptions at school Helle Rabøl Hansen
11. When classroom culture tips into bullying Helle Rabøl Hansen, Inge Henningsen and Jette Kofoed
Part IV. Adult Perspectives: 12. Parental positions in school bullying: the production of powerlessness in home-school cooperation Nina Hein
13. Traces of being bullied: 'dynamic effectuality' Charlotte Mathiassen
14. 'Is something wrong with me?' A context-sensitive analysis of school bullying Eva Silberschmidt Viala
Part V. Moving Forward: 15. From technically standardised interventions to analytically informed, multi-perspective intervention strategies Dorte Marie Søndergaard
16. One size doesn't fit all: re-thinking implementation research for bullying prevention Donna Cross and Amy Barnes.

Subject Areas: Educational psychology [JNC], Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Social theory [JHBA]