Description
Book SynopsisIn her forceful social history, Bullying, Laura Martocci explores the bully culture that has claimed national attention since the late 1990s. Moving beyond the identification of aggressive behaviors to an analysis of how and why we have arrived at a culture that thrives on humiliation, she critiques the social forces that gave rise to, and help maintain, bullying. Martocci's analysis of gossip, laughter, stereotyping, and competitiondynamics that foment bullying and prompt responses of shame, violence, and depressionis positioned within a larger social narrative: the means by which we negotiate damaged social bonds and the role that bystanders play in the possibility of atonement, forgiveness, and redemption. Martocci's fresh perspective on bullying positions shame as pivotal. She urges us to acknowledge the pain and confusion caused by social disgrace; to understand its social, psychological, and neurological nature; and to address it through narratives of loss, grief, and redemptio
Trade Review“A very useful and up-to-date discussion of the social-emotional origins of bullying.”— Thomas Scheff, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Martocci’s book offers a new and exciting interdisciplinary and sociocultural approach to the serious and complex issue of bullying. Her approach focuses on the psychosocial dynamics of humiliation and shame—how to understand this relational process and how to change the behaviors that restore people’s relations and identities.
Bullying is complex and multifaceted work. I am greatly impressed by Martocci’s analysis and framework, which draw from social science and social theory, social psychology, and psychoanalysis. I am certain that
Bullying will have a wide appeal to both academics working in cultural studies and educators, practitioners, and clinicians working on this social problem.”—E. Doyle McCarthy, Professor of Sociology at Fordham University
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Cultural-Historical Foundations of Bullying Culture A Brief Synopsis of Cultural Change
Religion and Shame: The Historical Possibility of Redemption
The Socialization of Children and the Root of Contemporary Shame
Constructing a Social Problem: Bullying and the Double-Edged Sword of the Media
2 Social Forces and Bullying Gossip
Laughter
Stereotypes and Categories
Competition
3 Shame and Identity Shame: The Social Mechanics of a Social Emotion
Shame and Anger
The Psychodynamics of Anger and the Neurodynamics of Pain
Guilt
Re-visioning Shame: The Strengths and Weaknesses of a New Paradigm
Summary
4 Grieving and Grief Work: Negotiating Social Pain and Personal Loss Traditional Conceptualizations of Grief
New Models of Grieving and Grief Work
Bullying: A Special Case of Loss and the Pitfall of Rumination
Rumination and Depression: Social-Psychological-Neurological
Interface
A Final Note
5 Narrative Writing and the Reconstruction of Self Overview
Storying the Brain
Expressive Writing: Integrating the Neural, the Social, and the Psychological
Storying Experiences: Writing Chaos and the Reclamation of Voice Memory
Narrating an Audience and Defining a Victim: The Paradox of Social Stories
A Final Note
6 Tying Up Loose Ends: Challenges to Bystanders, Challenges of Cyberspace Everyone Else: A Breakdown of Bystander Responsibility
Cyberspace: New Dynamics, New Challenges, New Potentials
Postscript: Practical SuggestionsAppendix A: The Uniqueness of Self and Personal Biography
Appendix B: The Re-visioning of Liberation and Womanist Theologies
Appendix C: Scheff and Retzinger: The Redemptive Role of Communication?
Appendix D: Lyn Lofland’s “Threads of Social Connectedness?
Appendix E: The Dynamics Underlying Expressive Writing: Why Does It Work?
Appendix F: Traumarama!, Seventeen Magazine, and Prepackaged Shame
Notes
References
Index
