Any psychologist or sociologist in the house? Question related to bullying.

I’m not a psychologist nor a sociologist but I’ve have to deal with bullying at various points in my life.

I think the root of bullying is levelling behaviour. Levelling in either pulling someone you view as being better than you down to your level or by making yourself seem higher than someone else by tormenting them.

Bullying takes an enormous toll on everyone involved in the process: the victim, the bully and the bystander. I’ll concentrate on the victim. Bullying can crush your self confidence and self esteem. You better have peers/teachers/parents who are observant and supportive to help you work through the issues.

You can absolutely regain what you’ve lost, but you’ll always have a scar: be it a large one or a small one.

Who are you referring to as “a person” – the bully, the bullied, or both.

I read an article about the science behind bully once, and I was lucky enough to find the link for you to read.

I am a sociologist. However, my foci are race, class, gender, social inequality and proactive public policy.
I am not too aware of the bullying literature. THere might be some sociology articles about intergroup bullying or organizational violence. To find individual perspectives (which I believe is what you might be interested in), I would check the psych and counseling lit.

(although I have come across some themes related to bullying, they were about how traits one is bullied for are created and re-enforced in social structures.
For example, some individuals are “bullied” for being LGBTQ. A sociologist wouldn’t ask questions like what makes a person LGBTQ. We would ask what is it about political, economic and ideological forces, created and reinforced through social institutions, that favors one lifestyle over another? How does this influence the lives of those concerned?
I don’t think that’s really what you are looking for)

If I were you, I would start with “The Journal of Interpersonal Violence”.

I think when people feel weak or insecure they sometimes as they seek more control and power over their lives go to the opposite extreme and exert power over others. It raises them up, and puts the other person down in the mind of the bully. These people fail to recognize or understand good relationships are generally on an equal footing, not one person having more power than the other. Young people it is more understandable, because they are still learning, although bad behavior is really never acceptable. In adults it is disgusting.

I know a few people who are bullies in adulthood, and some of them you can actually feel them smiling and skipping away after they treat you like shit (I feel this from women like this). They are a total joke if you ask me, and generally miserable people. Don’t get me wrong, what they do might hurt me for a moment, but then I realize they have to do it, because they feel so crappy about themselves. I know two people who became bullies after going through therapy. The therapists encouraged them to make boundaries, and that became a huge brick wall with little communication. They both basically left their families after being hateful and full of anger and sadness. Neither had abuse in the family, although it was not growing up in the Cleaver household.

I am not a socialogist or psychologist. The above is just my take on some bullies I have witnessed