StudyBoss » Abuse » Social Conflict Theory Essay

Social Conflict Theory Essay

In a social conflict perspective to bully, is a macro view, which is a view of society a whole and how a society is different in gender, religion, and race, and how it raises to conflicts in bullying and how people bullies others, and how certain types of people more vulnerable to being bullied then others, by their race and class.

Conflict theorist would take a look into how society deals with bullying, in terms of conflict and tension from comparing different groups, (Schaefer and Haaland, p. 0) for instance, an individual of one race being treated differently from another race, and what circumstances do these different groups get treated differently. Additionally, it explains and demonstrates the matter and parts played in society and makes attempts to fix the problems in society with cyber bullying. The conflict perspective can connect bullying to the problem of diversity and conformism and would be that the dominant group trying to make subordinate groups conform to the social norms.

Socialization experiences help determine or modify the child’s own strategies for handling interactions with peers, particularly those in which conflicts occurs or is incipient. ” (Wilson, C; et al. ) “A sociology of bullying would shift the unit of analysis from the individual to the aggressive interaction itself, attend to the social contexts in which bullying occurs, ask questions about meanings produced by such interactions and understand these interactions as not solely the province of young people, In doing so it would account for social forces, institutionalized inequality and cultural norms that reproduce inequality” (Pascoe, C. J, 2013)

Victims of being Cyber bullied were just about two times as likely to have attempt suicide than victims in school who never experienced being cyber bulling at all. (Hinduja, S & Patchin, J. W, 2013) A Structural Functionalist perspective main focus is on social organization is sustained and created and is focused on two types of individuals, the bullies and the victims, interconnected to make society a whole. Structural functionalist perspective not only focuses on the bullies and the victims, but also how it’s constructs with the laws, school system, and demonstrate moral values in a society that relate to bullying.

Peers are another powerful source of social roles, they have the potential to play a critical role in the reinforcement or punishment of bullying and victim behaviour at school, because peers share similar characteristics and therefore have a heightened saliences as role models among children (As cited Bandura, 1997; Patterson, 1986) (Wilson, C; Parry, L; Nettelbeck, T; Bell, J, 2003) additionally, even though children are aware and have made concerns to teachers and parents, adults usually are reluctant and unwilling to be involved or discipline directly when a situation of bullying occurs and bullies potentially wont understand their wrong doings because of the absence of punishment and continue to bully others. (As cited Craig & Pepler, 1997) (Wilson, C; et al. ) How would a society function differently without bullying? According to Thornburg’s article, “Distressed Bullies, Social Positioning and Odd Victims: Young People’s Explanations of Bullying” social sigma is the exact same explanation as the “odd victim”.

This is because if an individual is ‘odd’ or different they are bullied for their differences. (Thornburg, R, 2013) For example, if an individual has mental disabilities, they are more likely to be bullied from being “different” from the others. Symbolic Interaction perspective is a micro-level approach, which society is an continuous process, individuals view the world on what the individual has experienced they have witnessed growing up, and the different things the individual see everyday. In the bully’s point of view, “aggression may be viewed as instrumental in nature. ” (Neuman, J. H & Baron, R. A) and is therefore, prone to being a bully and in their eyes, nothing is wrong with it.

Bullying grows out of and feeds into social environment- dyadic relationships, systems of peer relationships, structure of adult authority, school systems, and a larger culture. Thus, it is not enough to declare a “war on bullying”: it requires making peace with all kids through all the various micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-systems that affect their lives. ” (Espelage, D & Swearer, S, 2004) Bullies bully because they feel the need they have to, perhaps a situation happened when they were younger, or they don’t know what they are doing is wrong. If the bullies have a psychosocial problem, then as a teenager they are more likely to become the defender in situations then is a bully themselves. Thornberg 2013)

“Once having been constructed as a victim, stigmatized with negative labels, and rejection from peers, ethnographic findings revealed that it is almost impossible for these young people to change their status and improve their situation” (As cited in Cadigan, 2002; Evans and Eder, 1993) (Thornburg, R, 2013, Pg. 2) After being attacked or bullied, it is difficult for the victim to escape being stigmatized and bullied, and the individuals self-esteem is most likely to be lower. Social interaction perspective treats interpersonal and situational factors as critical in instigating aggression, and also recognized that aggressors “often view their own behaviour as legitimate and even moralistic. ” (Neuman, J. H & Baron, R. A. The cause of

Bullying among young individuals and children in a society representation is that there is a connection between harassment and the environmental situation in a school setting has been shown in numerous of ethnographic studies (As cited Alder and Alder, 1998; Besag, 2006; Cadigan 2002, Duncan, 1999; Eder and others, 1995; Garpelin, 2004; Goodwin, 2002; Kinney, 2003; Kless, 1992; MacDonald and Swart, 2004; Merton, 1997). (Thornberg, R. ) Successful bullies may obtain power and status, and in most causes, victims are labeled as not liked and unpopular. Additionally, “the social ranking between peers and the social recognition of the victim as different or deviant has also been coupled in the research. ” (Thornberg, R. 2013)

Some major difficulties in cyber bullying for example individuals who have been bullied through the internet or cellular device during the in the last few months are “more dependent upon the internet, feel less popular, take more internet-related risk, are more often a bystander and perpetrator of internet and mobile phone bullying, and are less often a perpetrator and more often a victim” (Vandebosch, H & Van Cleemput, K, 2009)

A limitation in cyberbulling is that it is not illegal, which the principle, teacher, and parents aren’t able to “fully” take action because it is not an illegal act so ultimate they can’t do anything about it, A 13-year old girl was bullied when she committed suicide, and her parents had no idea about the issue until she left a suicide note that read: “I only ask that you tell my school I killed myself so maybe next time people like (bully) wants to call someone (names), he won’t” (Wagner, M, 2014) People tormented this girl and told her to kill herself, this such act went on while the school was aware of the bullying and did not take any action into account.

If more schools put in the effort and took charge of bullying and made it a serious offense in the schools, or even police getting involved, it would save so many children and youths lives. Bullying is associated with anti-social development and develops higher chances of psychiatric disorder in later life. (Pascoe, C. J, 2013) According to a research being done, approximately 2,000 middle-schoolers, 20% said to be thinking about suicide, while 19% reported to have attempted suicide (Hinduja, s & Patchin, J. W, 2010) due to bullying.

Cite This Work

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Reference Copied to Clipboard.