The community-based view of bullying

Many of us have grown up believing that bullying is something that generally occurs between so-called problem children and vulnerable victims. Any efforts to tackle bullying has therefore focused on the individuals perceived to be involved – with little or no regard paid to the other children or adults in their orbit, or to their shared culture.

A growing body of research reveals that this perspective is too narrow and somewhat misguided – which may also explain why many schools have consistently failed to address bullying effectively.

We now know that bullying largely stems from our innate fear of being left to stand alone. As human beings, if we feel unsafe and sense potential isolation from our community, we may form new groups whose shared insecurities and need to belong lead us to exclude someone else. That is why bullying tends to reoccur in groups where children feel insecure and excluded. By contrast, children’s communities that are characterised by tolerance and inclusion leave little room for bullying to rear its ugly head.

To prevent bullying – instead of only trying in vain to cure the problem after the fact – we therefore need to focus on developing a caring, tolerant and inclusive culture.