Understanding the Social Context of School Bullying Behaviours Among Middle School Students in China

• In Event: School Crime and Punishment in Context: The Impact of School Climate and the Social Environment

Abstract

An increasing number of middle school students in Chinav have indicated their bullied experiences and the trauma that they felt afterwards. To better understand bullying, the social influential factors behind such bullying behaviors have gradually become a central topic for scholars’ discussion. However, there has been limited attention paid to story-based experiences and the analysis of the real inner journeys of certain bullies. This study establishes a bilateral theoretical framework from which the motivations of bullying can be comprehensively studied. The general strain theory and the edgework theory illustrate the different mindsets in bullying as a form of deviant behavior from a criminological perspective. Bourdieu’s field theory has been applied to understand how bullying acts as a field and how students gain different capital within daily interactions. This study offers a new insight toward understanding the motivations behind school bullying by conducting semi-structured interviews with the students, teachers, and other experienced education professionals. It argues that strains can be sources of negative emotions that eventually lead to bullying, while bullying is also an expression of boredom with the support of the edgework theory. Lastly, future research directions are suggested, particularly by combining qualitative and quantitative research methods with similar multi-dimensional frameworks.

Author

• Yuanmei Dong, The University of Hong Kong