Bullying at school and in the workplace. A challenge for communication research.

Abstract

In this chapter, previous literature concerning school bullying and workplace harassment will be reviewed from a communication perspective. The chapter details the seriousness and extensiveness of bullying, both among children at school and adults at work. We aim to provoke discussion of how communication research and theory might help us in understanding and explaining bullying. As will be elaborated, bullying appears in interaction situations, mostly in the forms of verbal and nonverbal communication, it exists in the interpersonal relationship of bully and victim, and it can be associated with group communication processes and the structuration of groups, as well as with organizational and cultural communication processes. The benefits of applying communication theories and constructs to research focusing on bullying will be demonstrated, and suggestions for future studies will be made.