ABSTRACT
Bullying is a complex social problem with a range of different 'causes', all of which may be relevant in considering any particular instance. The problem of bullying is in some senses deeply rooted in human experience, as it basically consists of the over-use of violence to establish social dominance, in ordinary interpersonal situations, and both violence and social dominance are likely to be continuing facets of experience in a complex society as they have been before this. Some of the uncertainties and differences in the estimation of the extent of bullying also reflects the complexity of the causes and the variations in the perception of bullying by the different parties involved. At present, the definition of bullying adopted by the 'classical researcher' tends to be the one which originated in the early Scandinavian studies, that is where a number of children, usually boys, intimidate a lone victim, using certainly aggressive and often physically violent means.
