Bullying is a form of
abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group) , thus an "imbalance of power".
[2] The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. Bullying types of behavior are often rooted in a would-be bully's inability to empathize with those whom he or she would target.
Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse –
emotional,
verbal and
physical. It typically involves subtle methods of
coercion such as
intimidation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. Although the
UK currently has no legal definition of bullying,
[3] some
US states have laws against it.
[4]
Bullying ranges from simple one on one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more 'lieutenants' who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.
[5] Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of
rankism.
Bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes
school,
church,
family, the
workplace,
home and
neighborhoods. It is even a common
push factor in
migration. Bullying can exist between
social groups,
social classes and even between countries (see
Jingoism). In fact on an international scale, perceived or real imbalances of power between nations, in both economic systems and in treaty systems, are often cited as some of the primary causes of both World War I and World War II.
[6] [7] Put simply, historically and from this perspective, certain international 'bullying' between nations is seen as having resulted in at least two very major and costly international wars.