It's not just the bully in the schoolyard that we should be worried about. The one-on-one bullying that dominates the national conversation, this timely book suggests, is actually part of a larger problem-a natural outcome of the bullying nature of our national institutions. And as long as the United States embraces militarism and aggressive capitalism, systemic bullying and all its impacts-at home and abroad-will persist as a major crisis.
Bullying looks very similar on the personal and institutional levels: it involves an imbalance of power and behavior that consistently undermines its victim, securing compliance and submission and reinforcing the bully's sense of superiority and legitimacy. The similarity, this book tells us, is not a coincidence. Applying the concept of the "sociological imagination," which links private problems and public issues, authors Charles Derber and Yale Magrass argue that individual bullying is an outgrowth-and a necessary function-of a larger social phenomenon. Bullying is seen here as a structural problem arising from systems organized around steep power hierarchies-from the halls of the Pentagon, Congress, and corporate offices to classrooms and playing fields and the environment. Dominant people and institutions need to create a culture in which violence and aggression are seen as natural and just: one where individuals compete over who will be bully or victim, and each is seen as deserving their fate within this hierarchy. The larger the inequalities of power in society, or among nations, or even across species, the more likely it is that both institutional and personal bullying will become commonplace. The authors see the life-long psychological scars interpersonal bullying can bring, but believe it is almost impossible to reduce such bullying without first challenging the institutions that breed and encourage it.
In the United States a system of intertwined corporations, governments, and military institutions carries out "systemic bullying" to create profits and sustain its own power. While acknowledging the diversity and savagery of many other bully nations, the authors contend that America, as the most powerful nation in the world-and one that aggressively promotes its system as a model-merits special attention. It is only by recognizing the bullying built into this model that we can address the real problem, and in this, Bully Nation makes a hopeful beginning.
It's not just the bully in the schoolyard that we should be worried about. The one-on-one bullying that dominates the national conversation, this timely book suggests, is actually part of a larger problem-a natural outcome of the bullying nature of our national institutions. And as long as the United States embraces militarism and aggressive capitalism, systemic bullying and all its impacts-at home and abroad-will persist as a major crisis.
Bullying looks very similar on the personal and institutional levels: it involves an imbalance of power and behavior that consistently undermines its victim, securing compliance and submission and reinforcing the bully's sense of superiority and legitimacy. The similarity, this book tells us, is not a coincidence. Applying the concept of the "sociological imagination," which links private problems and public issues, authors Charles Derber and Yale Magrass argue that individual bullying is an outgrowth-and a necessary function-of a larger social phenomenon. Bullying is seen here as a structural problem arising from systems organized around steep power hierarchies-from the halls of the Pentagon, Congress, and corporate offices to classrooms and playing fields and the environment. Dominant people and institutions need to create a culture in which violence and aggression are seen as natural and just: one where individuals compete over who will be bully or victim, and each is seen as deserving their fate within this hierarchy. The larger the inequalities of power in society, or among nations, or even across species, the more likely it is that both institutional and personal bullying will become commonplace. The authors see the life-long psychological scars interpersonal bullying can bring, but believe it is almost impossible to reduce such bullying without first challenging the institutions that breed and encourage it.
In the United States a system of intertwined corporations, governments, and military institutions carries out "systemic bullying" to create profits and sustain its own power. While acknowledging the diversity and savagery of many other bully nations, the authors contend that America, as the most powerful nation in the world-and one that aggressively promotes its system as a model-merits special attention. It is only by recognizing the bullying built into this model that we can address the real problem, and in this, Bully Nation makes a hopeful beginning.
Charles Derber is professor in the Department of
Sociology at Boston College.
Yale R. Magrass is Chancellor professor in the
Department of Sociology/Anthropology at the University of
Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
"[The] thesis that bullying is an endemic and fundamental feature
of American society is compelling, even if it is an inconvenient
truth."--Social Forces"A thought-provoking text that invites
readers to reflect on the structural forces that drive individuals
to engage in bullying behaviors and highlights the need for
further, and more systematic, research on the development of
bullying in the social media age, the rising tide of anti-bullying
activism, and the effectiveness of the anti-bullying measures that
have been enacted in recent years."--Political Science
Quarterly
"A canny and sobering look at bullying behavior and how it
permeates our nation's major institutions. When children do it, we
abhor it. When our leaders do it, we usually applaud it. The
authors remind us."--Oliver Stone "This thoughtful study expertly
dissects the 'bullying scourge' that poisons lives and society,
exposing its roots in the institutional structure of a
'militaristic capitalist culture' that it reflects and nurtures,
while also revealing the encouraging reactions that may offer cures
for the malady and the factors that engender it."--Noam
Chomsky"Bully Nation is the most comprehensive analysis of bullying
yet published. It is a brilliant book that refuses to define
bullying as merely a psychological concept. Instead, it addresses
in great detail the interplay of bullying as having its roots in a
range of historical, economic, political, and social conditions. In
this instance, bullying functions as a metaphor to connect the
private the public, specific acts of violence to larger forms of
systemic violence. Rather than treat bullying as part of a rite of
passage confined to the often difficult process of growing up,
Derber and Magrass treat it as a systemic force that produces
values, social relations, structures, and collective identities
steeped in violence and aggression. This is a powerful and
compelling book that addresses one of the most important social
problems of our time. It should be read by all educators, parents,
and anyone else interested in a world free of aggression and
violence. Bully Nation deserves widespread attention."--Henry
Giroux, author of Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino
Capitalism "Bully Nation is absolutely terrific, an important,
powerful and timely book that should be read by academic and public
audiences alike. The authors have done a remarkable job of taking
the topical social problem of bullying, which has received a great
deal of attention over the past decade, and extrapolating it to
economic, political, corporate and militaristic bullying. We come
to understand that bullying isn't just for the schoolyard, it's a
socio-pathology woven throughout our culture and guiding much of
the way that the political economy is run. Their illuminating
analysis illustrates how corporations and governments bully not
only citizens--the 99%--but also the planet, and with reckless
abandon. The consequences are potentially dire--for our culture,
for the middle class, for the nation's and world's poor, and for
the survival of the planet. Without question, this is a book that
will have wide appeal to academics, students, and public audiences.
I imagine using this book in my own courses and am already
anticipating with great excitement the important discussion that
will be opened with my students as they grapple with the bully
nation, and with the most important issues facing their
generation."--Jonathan White, author of Sociologists in Action:
Sociology, Social Change, and Social Justice"Derber and Magrass
force us to rethink our concept of bullying. Moving beyond the
relatively limited focus on the psychological paradigm and
interactions among children, they instead situate the process in a
broader institutional context and relationships among adults. Their
creative and expert treatment of bullying brings in the economy,
the military, dominant political organizations, and indeed global
inequalities as well. Their analysis of 'structural bullying'
fulfills C. Wright Mills's call for a sociological imagination that
links personal problems to our social world. Their contribution
offers new ideas, not only on the concept and sources of the
behavior, but also on the direction where more humane and effective
solutions will be found."--Paul Joseph, editor of The Many Faces of
War: A Social Science Encyclopedia "A welcome departure from the
popular habit of reducing distasteful behavior to family
pathologies or genetic dispositions, Bully Nation is an important
example of how intelligent social science can help heal the world.
If bullying is rooted in history and structured by institutions,
then citizen action can do something about it." --John Ehrenberg,
author of Civil Society: The Critical History of an Idea"Clear and
compelling. Its case for shifting our focus from individual
schoolyard bullies to power imbalances in American society is badly
needed in current discussions of bullying. A brilliant example of
the sociological imagination at work."--Daniel Geary, author of
Beyond Civil Rights: The Moynihan Report and Its Legacy
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