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“She is not actually bullied.” the discourse of harassment in student groups
Author(s) -
Teräsahjo Timo,
Salmivalli Christina
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.10045
Subject(s) - repertoire , hostility , harassment , psychology , construct (python library) , social psychology , qualitative analysis , qualitative research , discourse analysis , developmental psychology , sociology , linguistics , social science , philosophy , physics , computer science , acoustics , programming language
Bullying is a considerable problem in schools. It has various negative effects on the children involved. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how children themselves interpret and construct bullying. Three elementary school classes with a high number of victim nominations were chosen among the 48 classes taking part in a larger study. The pupils from selected classes were interviewed in small groups. The interviews were tape‐recorded, transcribed and analyzed using the discourse analytical methodology described by Potter and Wetherell [1987]. Various recurrently used systems of terms (e.g., interpretative repertoires) were found. The results suggest that bullying can be construed as unproblematic and justified among children. For example, the ‘interpretative repertoire of underestimation’ constructs bullying as a game or some other harmless action, the ‘odd student repertoire’ describes the victim as a negatively deviant student who cannot behave as he/she should and the ‘interpretative repertoire of deserving’ constructs meaningful reasons for hostility towards the victim. These and other interpretative repertoires are described and discussed. Aggr. Behav. 29:134–154. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.