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The Trouble with Bullying – Deconstructing the Conventional Definition of Bullying for a Child‐centred Investigation into Children's Use of Social Media
Author(s) -
Canty Justin,
Stubbe Maria,
Steers Denise,
Collings Sunny
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12103
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , psychology , context (archaeology) , poison control , social media , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , social psychology , applied psychology , computer science , medicine , paleontology , environmental health , psychiatry , world wide web , biology
This article deconstructs the conventional definition of bullying through analysis of its historical context, and identifies blind spots using lenses of gender, culture and setting. We explore theoretical and methodological problems associated with the conventional definition and its axiomatic use in bullying research, with particular reference to online bullying. We argue that because children may use ‘bullying’ to mean many different practices not captured in the conventional definition, using this definition often obscures the very phenomena researchers are aiming to describe. As a result, adults risk missing these practices in research and for interventions that use these studies as their evidence base.