Defining bullying: a new look at an old concept

Bullying is an old concept, one that can be traced back to the sixteenth century, if not earlier. Shakespeare has a character, Pistol, hero-worshipping his king, Henry V, with the words, 'I love the lovely bully, I kiss his dirty shoe.' Admiration for the powerful and successful still exists (witness the popularity of the ass-kicking stars of World Wrestling Entertainment). But without doubt the word 'bully' has changed its meaning in more recent years, in response (I believe) to a growing intolerance towards those who continually abuse their power. The term is now being used in a quite different way. And more and more people are giving their attention to the problem of how bullying can be reduced in the community at large, and especially in schools where educating young people about how they should use and not abuse their power has become a matter of vital concern.

I happen to think that much of our work in tackling bullying is hamstrung by arguments and disagreements about how we should define 'bullying.' I hope it may be useful to think about how people have sought to define the word.
Appealing to the widespread, deeply-seated dislike of bullies, Tattum and Tattum (1992) proposed the following definition. "Bullying is the wilful, conscious desire to hurt another and put him/her under stress" Thus bullying was conceived as a desire (Rigby, 2012). Anybody who wants to hurt somebody - and knows it - is then, by definition, a bully. The inadequacy of this formulation becomes evident when you ask people whether they ever feel like hurting somebody. In fact, at some time or other, almost everybody admits that they do. And of course many of those harbouring ill-will do not express their desires in action. They commonly think better of it. They do not bully. Yet this definition is a popular one, endorsed at one